Know Your Myst Stars
by Sugary Snicket
Summary: A slight, silly little Myst All That crossover. What if the Myst characters were to clash heads and wits with the Know Your Stars announcer? This isn't in crossovers because there's no All That category, unfortunately.
1. The Beginning

_I'm baaaa-aaaack! Did y'all miss me? I bet you're all wondering where I went. Well, I just started high school (twenty-ten, twenty-ten, freshmen, freshmen, twenty-ten!), and homework and stuff was eating up time for me. But I was also busy playing these awesome games from the late nineties and early 2000's – The Myst series._

_Now, don't knock em' until you try them. If you love puzzles, they're awesome, and more than a match for even the smartest of brainiacs. I know I had quite a trying time with them, but I still managed to decipher their secrets. And let me tell you this: The feeling that you get when you finally solve a puzzle that had you stuck for ages (pun not intended, Myst fans) is priceless. (There are lots of things that money can buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard™.)_

_Now, about the story – This is a crossover between that wacky "All That" comedy skit "Know Your Stars" and the mind-numbing, amazing people, places, and puzzles of Myst. It will NOT be written in script format, as to make for a more satisfying story, and to show the characters' reactions better. Most of the main characters will be covered, although there may be some other, smaller characters in the mix. Yeesha is not in here, as we see her three times throughout the series (Counting Uru) and she is constantly changing her age on us. For that reason, I have found it difficult to write Yeesha's "Know Your Stars" torment, and so she will not appear, but she may be referenced. (I'm pretty much writing this on the fly!) Esher is in the Maybe Age at this point – I don't really know if he'll be in it or not. Maybe if I get enough PMs that want me to add him in, I will. Also, in this story, the Stranger is a girl._

_Be aware, Myst fans, that "Know Your Stars" functions mainly on taunting a person in front of a large audience, with the person reacting angrily. Some of the taunts will be rather childish as well. Also be aware that, yes, your favorite characters will be in the hot seat and will be made fun of. Please DO NOT spam me with flames about how I "Was soooo mean to Saavedro" or how I "Should go to hell, because you really don't know what you're doing." Please, only constructive criticism about how I can better improve this fanfic._

_Well, that's about it. Without further ado, I give you "Know Your Myst Stars!" (Sorry, I know that the title is lame, but I couldn't come up with a better one!)_

_Disclaimer – I don't own Myst, Riven, Myst III: Exile, Myst IV: Revelation, or Myst V: End of Ages. I don't own the Stranger, Atrus, Catherine/Katran, Sirrus, Achenar, Saavedro, Gehn, Cho, or anyone else in the games. I also don't own "All That" or "Know Your Stars." Please don't ask me for the rights to any of these people or things. Ask Nickelodeon and Cyan Worlds for them._

-- Dedicated to my crazy friend Nee --

PROLOUGE

It was a relatively calm night in Tohmahna, the kind of night where one could simply sit and watch the stars twinkle brightly in the atmosphere and wonder about what the future held. The lights along the walkway, normally so brightly lit, and the lights inside as well, had been dimmed to allow the stars to shine in all of their glory.

It is here that we find her, the one who found the book so many years ago. A mere child of fifteen, but an incredibly bright child nonetheless. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, something that she often did. Her bright eyes sparkled with wonder as she gazed out at the constellations.

Atrus never did catch her name, even after all these years. She had never gotten the chance to tell him. Still, it was all the same to both her and him.

"It's lovely," she remarked, turning to face her friend. _Busy writing as usual,_ she thought as Atrus continued to write in the blank book.

Finally, after much one-sided conversation from the girl he called "the Stranger", he lifted his head to look at her.

"Yes," he agreed, stealing a glance at the stars. "They're quite beautiful tonight."

"I've always found them to b very inspirational," the Stranger replied with a smile. It hadn't been so very long ago that she had seen them up close – had fallen through them, watching them streak past her like a veil of glowing white threads.

It had always surprised her that she had actually survived the fall.

Then again, the idea of linking to another world through a book was still pretty awkward to her. She had never really gotten used to that odd feeling of being sucked into the page, only to later rematerialize on some alien surface. It was like the teleportation devices that you always see in science fiction movies, except more portable. Maybe the movies themselves were other worlds. Hmm… _could_ she link into a movie?

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps and Catherine's voice asking if they wanted something to eat.

Well, the Stranger _was_ pretty hungry.

"Sure," she replied, standing up to look at Atrus' wife.

Catherine smiled and took the girl inside as Atrus continued to write.

What was he writing? A new link. A portal into another world that he was almost done describing. But as he finished the last few penstrokes and looked back through the book, he couldn't help but wonder what had driven him to write an Age that consisted of nothing but a large room with several smaller, hidden rooms somewhere behind it.

Perhaps he'd figure out why later. Right now, he felt compelled to share the finished book with his wife and his friend.

With a steady hand, he closed the book and walked inside of the house.

Inside, Catherine was busy preparing some sort of dish that Atrus had never seen the likes of before. It seemed to only consist of thin, pale worms that were being boiled in water with some sort of flavored sand that Catherine had poured out of a small, silver packet. It all seemed so bizarre to him. Did people from his friend's world eat insects?

Confused, he glanced at Catherine, who only gave him the same look of confusion back and gestured towards a nearby wrapper that lay on the kitchen counter. Fortunately, Atrus could read English.

_Ramen Noodles_, proclaimed the wrapper. _Chicken flavored._ Oh! Now it made much more sense, though he still wondered what a 'chicken' was.

When he pointed this out to his wife, both began laughing.

The Stranger entered the kitchen suddenly, probably to look for her dinner, only to find the two adults lying on the ground and laughing their heads off.

"What's so funny?" she asked, clearly bewildered.

"Nothing, my friend," Atrus chuckled as he stood up, looking at the noodles simmering in the pot. "Did you bring them?"

"Well, yes," the girl replied. "Somewhere between my world and here, I figured that it'd do me good to pack some food from my world and bring it along on my travels. I figured that I'd need it – just in case. The particular dish that I'm having Catherine make right now is called ramen noodles."

Suddenly, both adults began laughing again, but only for a brief moment.

Smiling, the Stranger looked at Atrus and casually said "Noodles."

Atrus again began laughing, nearly falling over as he did so. Grinning, the girl entered the kitchen to serve herself some dinner.

* * *

"Oooh, a new Age? Show me!" 

It was now quite late at night, and the three were sitting in the living room, discussing Atrus' new book. The Stranger, who was always up for a trip, looked at the descriptive book now lying on the table with curious eyes.

"Well, this is the first time I'll be using it," he replied gravely. "I don't know how hospitable this Age is."

"But… Pleeeeeeeaaaase?" She pouted, trying to make her eyes get really big and sad – looking. "I'm your friend. Can't you trust me?"

"It's for your own safety, though," Catherine pointed out.

"Safety?" the Stranger cried angrily. "Since when have I been safe? I've walked on bridges with no railings way high up in the trees, and ridden in giant iceballs, and lived for a week on an Age that was falling apart! I've stood over a pit of lava while I try to make complex machinery work, and I've explored an Age that was nothing but floating rocks, where I could fall off and _die_ if I slipped up _just once._ I retrieved your book from a crazy guy with a _hammer_, for Pete's sake! I think we can overlook a little thing like safety issues, Atrus."

Atrus sighed. When his friend made up her mind, it was made up, and there was no changing it.

"Very well," he sighed. "If you really want to go, I suppose you can come with me. But I don't want you wandering off. This Age might be riddled with poisonous plants, or it might be full of traps, or -"

"Atrus, dear," Catherine said as she flipped through the book, "I can read D'ni just fine. And this book says nothing about plants or traps. According to what you wrote, it looks like this Age is nothing but a large room with a stage."

"Wait a minute," the Stranger interrupted. "You mean to say that Atrus wrote a link to an auditorium?"

"It looks like it," Catherine said with a small smile.

"Cool," the Stranger remarked as she picked up the book and began to flip through it. "I'm an actress, you know. I'm starring in the play at my school. I bet there's a whole bunch of other people who would like to see what I can do."

The girl continued to flip through the pages carefully, as to make sure that she didn't accidentally link.

"Neat," she replied as she flipped back to the first page to find a black linking panel. Curious, she glanced at her friend.

"The panel is blank," Atrus explained, "Because it hasn't really 'locked on' to the Age I wrote the link to. Someone has to go first to establish the link, and from then on, it's open to anyone."

"It's complicated," Catherine added when the girl gave her a confused look.

"Sounds like it," she said, laying the open book on the table. "So, someone has a linking book back with them, right?"

"Right," the two adults replied.

"After you, then."

Atrus and Catherine both entered the book, and eventually the Stranger noticed that an image had flickered onto the panel. The image did indeed looked like a room with a stage, albeit the image showed the backstage area and not the actual stage. The girl glanced one last time at the room that she was in and cautiously placed her hand on the image, feeling the odd sensation of suction, hearing the roar of the link in her ears, and letting herself fall into the book.

When she opened her eyes, she saw both Atrus and Catherine next to her, a stage in front of her, and behind her, rows of dressing rooms. It was just like a professional theater.

Grinning, she turned to her friends, who now suddenly looked nervous.

She felt her own smile fade as she watched them both look for their only way home.

"You said that you were bringing the book!"

"We thought that you did!"

But it was too late to point fingers.

They were trapped.


	2. The Stranger's Torment

_Man, oh, man, I LOVE cliffhangers! Okay, so when we last saw the trio, they realized that they were stuck in the Age with no way out. Oh no! What's going to happen now? Hmm… how about this?_

"Oh, man," the Stranger said in alarm and dismay. "Oh man, oh man, oh man. This is bad. This is really, really bad."

Suddenly, the three heard what sounded like peoples' voices coming from the stage's general area.

"There are people here?" Catherine asked.

"Of course," Atrus replied. "I wrote them into the book, so I would certainly hope that there are people here."

"Do you think that they're friendly?" the Stranger asked, peeking from behind the curtains.

"I sure hope that they are," Catherine said.

"Should we send Atrus out there to go check?"

"No!" Atrus yelled suddenly.

Both females looked at him with a suspicious glance.

"Uh, I mean, no!" he said sheepishly. "I mean… shouldn't we send you in, my friend?"

"But you said -"

"Uh, forget what I said. This Age is perfectly safe! Now get out there!"

With this, he shoved the Stranger on stage and ran offstage.

"Some friend," she said as she walked onto the stage.

There on the dimly lit stage stood a lone chair. Rows of stadium seating lined the wall immediately adjacent, but the odd thing was that nobody was sitting in the seats. _Hmm… canned laughter?_

Confused, she plopped down into the seat.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

"What the…?" the Stranger cried out. _Okay, this is weird. Then again, what in any of the places you've been to hasn't been weird?_

"Who are you?" she asked.

Instead of an outright answer, the voice replied with "The Stranger… is stupid!"

"What?" the girl cried. "That's the most idiotic thing that I've ever heard!"

"The Stranger… I know her real name!"

"No you don't! Nobody knows who I really am! _Atrus_ doesn't even know who I am!"

"The Stranger… she's so unimportant that even her best friend forgot her name!"

The Stranger grimaced angrily. This shtick was getting very old, very quickly.

"You know what?" she yelled to nobody in particular, "Shut up!"

"The Stranger… is so stupid that she forgot her own name!"

"I did not! It's… uh… it's…"

"See what I mean?"

"SHUT. THE. SQUEE. UP!!!!!"

"The Stranger… she sees invisible Squees everywhere!"

"WHAT!?!"

"The Stranger… she likes Squees!"

"Well, I do think that they're cute…"

"With gravy!"

The Stranger gasped upon hearing that.

"You sick, twisted, perverted monster!"

"The Stranger… likes to run around waving a big blow-up hammer and screaming 'no, no, no!'"

"You idiot! That's Saavedro, not me!"

"The Stranger… she practices karate on Bahro when she's feeling kinky!"

"WHAT THE?!?"

"The Stranger… randomly blows up for no apparent reason!"

"What are you talking about? I don't yell at other people!"

"You're yelling at me."

"Because you're taunting me!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yah-huh!"

"Yah-huh."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yah-huh."

"Nuh-uh!"

"I yelled at you, and that's final!"

"The Stranger… I just tricked her into saying that she yelled at me!"

The Stranger tried to think of a witty comeback, but couldn't find one.

"Okay, that's it. I'm sick of this," she said, trying to suppress the urge to tear this guy's throat out. "Show yourself and apologize, and I promise that I won't get mad."

"Why? This is so much fun!"

"GGGGGGRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"

"The Stranger… she just growled like a pig!"

"You idiot! Pigs don't growl!"

"The Stranger… she IS a pig!"

"SHUT UP!!!"

"Aww, now you hurt my feelings. I'm going to cry."

The disembodied voice began to fake-sob, which was beginning to annoy the girl.

"You know what? I hate it when people fake-sob, because I really know that they're faking it."

"The Stranger… is a mean, heartless bully who likes to make other people cry!"

"Shut up!"

"The Stranger… is a dookie-head!"

"What. The. HECK!!!!"

"Now you know the Stranger… the dookie-headed pig who sees Squees!"

"What? They don't know me! Get your butt back here! Who are you?!?"

Five seconds later, the Stranger plodded off stage miserably and stared at Atrus.

"I hate you," she said, "For sending me back there."

"Oh, come now, surely the inhabitants of this Age can't be _that_ hostile," he replied.

"Oh yeah? You think so? Go see for yourself!"

With that, the Stranger stomped off towards one of the dressing rooms, slamming the door behind her.

"Maybe you should go check it out," Catherine suggested. "She's not exactly ready for this kind of stress."

"Maybe you're right, Catherine," Atrus replied as he stepped onstage.

**_Meanwhile, in Haven…_**

It was a relatively peaceful afternoon in the age of Haven, the jungle was full of life, the trees were swaying in the tropical breeze, the two brothers were fighting… hey, wait a minute!

Sirrus glared at his older brother as his older brother did the same, each circling the other and not daring to take their eyes off each other for a second.

"Come now, Achenar, be reasonable," he told his mental opposite. "It's not like I'm trying to attack you or anything. I just want you to help me, just this once, and then…"

"No way!" Achenar yelled back. "I'm not going to be your pawn. You _know_ how much trouble I got into last time with that shtick! And I'm not helping you go after Yeesha, either, no matter how angry you are at father. Nuh-uh, not going to happen!"

"It's just a little plan!" Sirrus retorted. "It's not even a big deal! All you have to do is -"

"I already told you! I'm not falling for it this time, no matter how easy it is. I'm a different person now."

"You're no different than I am!"

"Hey, am I the one who wants to seek revenge?"

"Ooh, a witty comment. Better stick to the physical work, dear brother. It's what you're best at."

With this, Achenar launched himself at his brother forcefully, knocking him over and effectively pinning him against the sandy terrain of the beach.

"Don't start with me, Sirrus. You won't win."

At this, the younger brother merely chuckled. "You seriously think that I want to fight you?" he replied coolly. "I just want to get you out of here. That _is_ what you want, isn't it, brother? Or can you just not bear to part with your little monkey pals?"

Achenar stopped trying to throttle his brother for the moment and looked back at the barred linking cage, now flayed open by one of Sirrus' bombs, and remembered the book that lay within it. He would be free at last.

But a part of him really _didn't_ want to leave. A part of him wanted to stay and help the creatures who lived here. Living here, on haven, instead of on a desolate world with no company, had given him insight as to what he was missing, and had forced him to channel that destructive energy into more artistic means.

In any case, he didn't want any part of Sirrus' plan, but if it meant being free from his imprisonment, it was worth it.

"Very well," he said reluctantly. "I'll aid you. But I won't like it!"

"Now _that's_ more like the Achenar I know. Let's go."

_**Meanwhile, in Narayan…**_

The weather was warm and sunny today. A beautiful day to just relax and gaze out at the pink sky of his homeland. And what better way to do so than with your family?

So was the scene at the treetop household of Saavedro, who was busily sketching on a canvas the scene that lay before him. Having missed this sight for so long, he felt the desire to preserve it, just in case something else really bad happened.

But he had learned his lesson this time. Next time a book landed in front of him, he wasn't going to link in, no matter what the cost. It had caused nothing but trouble. Next time this happened, he was going to pick it up, walk to the edge of the tree, and drop it into the pink mist below, never to see it again. He wasn't going to let himself be trapped for who knew how many more years. It would surely ruin him.

"Saavedro?"

Tamra's sweet voice called his attention, just as he was finishing the main structure of his drawing.

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling better?"

It had been ten years since that day he was freed. Ten years since his long exile had ended. But it still seemed to mark him, like an ink stain on a white cloth, and he had never spoken about it since then. It brought back too much pain.

Was he feeling better?

Yes in some ways, no in others. How would you feel if you had just been freed from imprisonment and went home, and ten years later you were recalling the ordeal? And how could he count the numerous emotions he felt? Relief that his family was not dead. Joy that he was free. Amazement that the person who had saved him had done so when he had nothing to gain.

But he also felt tense, as if at any moment, someone else would glide over to his village on that gondola and start another rebellion, ruin more of the world, try to bring it down again…

"Dear?"

Saavedro turned to face his wife, having been jolted out of his thoughts by her voice, and replied "I'm fine."

"I don't imagine that you are 'fine'."

"Well… not really, no. But I am feeling better."

Silence as the couple watched the clouds float across the sky. The only sound was the scratching of Saavedro's pen as he continued to illustrate the world he saw in front of him.

"So, the other worlds you saw… what were they like?"

Saavedro paused for the moment, really not wanting to answer the question, but a look from those pleading green eyes finally made him cave.

"They were… interesting. There was one with giant pillars of stone, and another with many glowing, hexagonal crystals. There was one like a desolate canyon, full of machines, and another that was full of nothing but plant life. But none of them were quite like home."

"And how did you manage to survive?"

Darn it! Why did Tamra have to be so persistent! And so beautiful…

"Oh, you know, a little hunting here, a little foraging there, the building of shelters, both permanent and temporary."

"I see. You always were a resourceful man."

Saavedro gave Tamra a loving smile and continued to sketch the drawing off which he would base his painting.

"It's good to be back home," he finally said, as he put the finishing touches on the under sketch.

"I missed you, you know."

"And I missed you as the deserts miss the rain."

Together they stood, gazing out at the pink horizon and green trees that dotted the landscape, living for the moment in their own private paradise.

Perhaps that is why they never noticed the book fall from the sky next to them.

_Uh-oh! Looks like Atrus and company aren't the only ones who will fall victim to the Know Your Stars announcer! And how exactly will they fair? Better than the Stranger, or worse? And speaking of which, it looks like the Stranger's just been cut down. Will Atrus take it any better? Or will he too fall victim to the awful power of the Know Your Stars announcer?You'll just have to wait and see. _ :)


	3. Atrus' Turn

_Hey, I'm back again! Thanks to RandomLittleWriter for being my first reviewer. I wonder, though, Random… have you played any of the games yourself? Since I got some reviews, (two…looks mildly annoyed at this) I'm adding another chapter. I hope that you enjoy reading Atrus' turn in the hot seat. I certainly enjoyed writing it. And I wonder what will happen to Sirrus and Achenar on their travels? And what of Saavedro and the book that magically fell from the sky? Well ... _

Atrus took a tentative step onto the stage, looking for any sign of prying eyes. He never did like being in front of a crowd. He was always gripped by a powerful, icy fear whenever he set foot onto a stage – it bolted him to the floor, made the words in his mouth become jumbled and mixed into a tangled mess of nothing, and made him stare as if hypnotized. But if he had to do it…

He swallowed hard and fully stepped onto the stage.

Nobody was there. _Nobody?_ he thought. _How very odd._

Still, merely being on the stage made him feel slightly dizzy. Fortunately, there was a chair nearby. Atrus walked over to the chair and sat in it, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, so as to quell his overactive imagination from taking things too far.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

The sudden voice from apparently nowhere made Atrus jump as if electrocuted. He looked around the dark stage for a brief moment, trying to find who was doing the talking.

Still nothing.

"Nothing," he said quietly. "Atrus, you are letting your mind run away with you. There's nobody out there. Calm yourself."

"Atrus… ate three hot dogs and left none for his wife!"

Confused, Atrus looked around for the source of the voice again.

"What in the worlds," he asked, "Is a hot dog? And surely I would save some for my wife. I'm not a greedy person."

_Atrus, you're talking to yourself. Calm down. I repeat, CALM DO-_

"Atrus… likes to butter his arms and run around screaming 'I'm a muffin, I'm a muffin!'"

"That's preposterous!"

"Atrus… once, he let his sons draw a moustache and goatee on his face with permanent marker when he was sleeping!"

"I remember nothing of the sort!"

Suddenly, a bright light came on, causing Atrus to shield his eyes from the glare and turn to see an image of somebody who was obviously not him with a goatee and moustache drawn onto their face.

"But… that's not me!"

"Suuuuurrreee it's not…"

"But it isn't!"

"I can see the similarity."

Atrus was beginning to grow annoyed with this childish person, whoever it was.

"Will you kindly stop saying things about me that aren't true?"

The voice only laughed.

"Uh, how about… NO! Atrus… sleeps with a stuffed wahrk named Bobo and doesn't tell anyone!"

"I have no stuffed wahrk named Bobo!"

"Atrus… enjoys having his hands shoved in a waffle iron!"

"Wouldn't I have burns in the shapes of waffle squares on my hands if that were the case?" He lifted both of his hands to show them to nobody in particular.

"…Maybe."

Atrus glared at where he thought the voice to be coming from – a speaker mounted high above his head. Enough was enough.

"Atrus… was too dumb to realize that his father was a nutcase!"

"Oh, stupid, was I? Why did I trap him on Riven, then?"

"Because you wanted to be a meanie!"

"Would you kindly be quiet for a moment?"

"Meanie, meanie, Atrus is a meanie!"

"I am not!" Atrus yelled, surprising himself. He rarely yelled, and when he did, it scared everyone, even himself.

"Atrus… is scared of his own voice!"

Atrus' jaw dropped open. He couldn't think of a single thing to say without sounding like a total moron, which would obviously fuel this person's passion for taunting others.

"Now see here," he said finally, "You stop this right now, or –"

"Atrus… he just threatened me! He must be a dangerous criminal! Help! Police! Nine-One-One!"

To Atrus, of course, this sounded like a meaningless string of pleas and numbers, but nonetheless it was enough to rile him up.

"Atrus… he enjoys gargling mouthwash to the tune of popular rap songs!"

"I do _what_? With _WHAT_?"

"Now you know Atrus… the waffle-handed meanie who thinks he's a muffin!"

"What? You haven't said anything true about me at all! Come back here! Who are you?"

* * *

"I told you that the natives of this Age were tough," the Stranger said as Atrus sat with her in the dressing room. 

"I guess you weren't kidding," he responded. "They really seem to know how to push other people's buttons." He sighed. "All we can do is explore and hope to find another linking book. Anywhere is better than here."

"Agreed," the Stranger said as she gazed off at the doorway. "What do you think, Catherine?"

At this point, she turned to face where Catherine had been sitting next to her, only to realize that she was no longer there.

"Oh, my God. Atrus, where is…?"

"I don't know."

Both slowly turned to look at the doorway.

"This isn't good," said the Stranger. "Not good at all."

_**Meanwhile, in Tohmahna…**_

"I don't know, Sirrus. They're not here. And I don't think that's a good sign…"

"Oh, will you quit your whining? It'll be much easier if mother and father are out! Yeesha's unprotected, so…"

"But what if she's not here? Father's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he isn't stupid, either."

"Achenar, it'll be fine. Just trust me, okay?"

"Pfft. Not on your life."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Sirrus was busily trying to pick the lock on Atrus' living room, trying to make some sort of progress. Well, if you could call using a sliver of crystal and a needle from some variety of odd Haven plant to pick the lock on a door 'making progress.'

Achenar watched his younger brother struggle idly with the makeshift lock pick for a bit, enjoying how obviously frustrated Sirrus was getting. And so, it was quite some hours before he spoke to him next.

"Do you need some help with that, dear brother?"

At this point, Sirrus looked like he was about to snap, but decided that he had better save his energy for later.

"Look," he said, turning to his smirking older brother, "You want to help? Why don't you just shut up for another half an hour while I -"

Sirrus never got to finish his question, because at that exact moment, Achenar charged full-speed at the door, flinging it open and causing him to collide with a wall near the fireplace.

"I got it!" he said, standing up.

Sirrus shot him a dirty look and entered the room, muttering under his breath all the while.

"Yeah… you got it… sure… I loosened the door for you…"

_**Meanwhile, in Narayan…**_

Saavedro held the book with trembling hands. Here it was, another demon book, having fallen from the sky. Why? Why was his past coming back to haunt him?

His first instinct was to chuck it over the edge of the tree… but then again, it was a book. And he couldn't bear to get rid of it, no matter what.

So, he hid it underneath his bed and forgot about it for a bit.

Tamra never questioned him about why he seemed so tense. He had gotten awfully good at hiding things over the past few years – he'd had to, in order to survive.

But all the same, knowing that he was hiding something from his wife ate Saavedro up. He had been hiding for so long… wasn't it time to reveal himself?

No, he decided, shaking the thought from his head. No. Some things should be kept secret. A person didn't have to share everything, did he?

Of course not.

Perhaps that's why he hid his departure from Tamra with a note saying that he left for a friend's house and that he'd be back soon.

Perhaps that's why he was careful to make sure of a way back as he withdrew the book from underneath his bed and made his way to the gondola.

Maybe this is the reason he took it to a quiet place – the place he had been trapped for twenty years, the place he said he'd never return to – opened the book, and solemnly linked out of his home world, watching the pink slowly, slowly fade into black.


	4. Confrontations and Conflicts

_Mwahahaha! The return of "Know Your Myst Stars"! I'm back with another chapter. Sorry it took so long, had chapter upload issues and kept sending me errors. But now I'm back with a vengence, baby! And I still have only ONE REVIEWER. You want to know the truth? It's really beginning to annoy me. So, help a writer out… review her story… Please? It would mean ever so much to me.  
_

* * *

Catherine stormed out on stage. _Nobody makes fun of my man, nuh-uh!_ She thought angrily. _No way, not in a thousand ages. And nobody makes fun of his friend, either._ Defiantly, she plopped down into the solitary chair and yelled "Do your worst!" 

"Oh, I will," said a voice. "Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars… Catherine… likes to pig out on cookies!"

"Hey! I do not!" Okay, this was _not _going to be easy. So, this guy wanted a fight? Well, then, Catherine would GIVE him a fight.

"I'm sure that you can't possibly come up with anything more insulting than that," she replied.

"You thought wrong. Catherine… Thinks that pickles are sexy!"

"What? And how in the worlds do you know my name?"

"I have my ways. Catherine… her real name is Sparky McBaddBatt!"

"That makes no sense!"

"It's better than your interpretation of the word 'Padlocks'."

"Well, excuse me for having a British accent!"

"You're from Riven. Why would you even _have_ a British accent?"

Catherine was about to say something back, but decided to shut her mouth, since she had always wondered about that herself.

Suddenly, a clip began to play of Catherine saying 'Padlocks' in Myst III: Exile, only the clip had been slowed down so that the word was ridiculously long and drawn out.

"Hey!"

The voice snickered. "That's really hilarious."

"No it isn't!" Catherine protested. This was beginning to get ridiculous. What would this idiot do next? Put up a doctored photo of her and Gehn?

"Catherine… I took this photo of her secretly!"

Suddenly, a huge and clearly doctored photo of Catherine with her arm draped around Gehn was projected onto a screen behind her.

"What?!? I HATE that over-blown, self-gratuitous, know-it-all, idiot, god-complexed, stupid, poser, loser of a man Gehn! AND I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!!!!"

"Catherine… ooh, she's cheating on Atrus…"

"What? I am not!"

"… For Sirrus!"

"You pervert! That's my son!"

"Yeah, I know. And you're the pervert for going out with your own son!"

Catherine was about to make an angry retort, but thought better of it.

"Yeah. I thought so. Catherine… she likes to growl like a dog when she eats dinner!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Catherine… she doesn't make any sense!"

"Shut up!"

"Now you know Catherine… the nonsensical cheating pervert who says 'Padlocks' in a weird way!"

"Hey! I do not! You don't know me at all! And why did you make fun of Atrus?"

Suddenly, Atrus and the Stranger ran onto the stage, hoping to calm Catherine down a bit.

"Catherine," the Stranger said in as gentle a voice as she could, "You need to calm down a bit now."

"CALM DOWN?!?" The yelling was so loud that the entire building began to shake with the force of the sonic waves. "No way! I'm _really_ mad now. That – that… _imbecile_ – doctored a photo of me and your father! No way, he's going down, _he is going down._"

With this, Catherine turned primly on her heel and stomped offstage as the helpless friends watched.

"Well," Atrus sighed, "At least there's nobody else here that this guy can make fun of."

"Yeah," the Stranger agreed. "I shudder to think what might happen if somebody like, say, Sirrus or Achenar ended up here."

_**Meanwhile, on Tohmahna…**_

"She's not here? Where is she?"

They were getting nowhere. Yeesha was nowhere to be found, and this was obviously grating on Sirrus' already frazzled nerves.

Achenar stood by eagerly, waiting for his brother to snap. And Sirrus knew this. Which only made Achenar all the happier.

"Maybe," Achenar said sarcastically, "She went to Haven or Spire. Maybe you should go back there and look for her."

"Clever, dear brother, but not clever enough. Why don't you go over into that far corner over there, you know, the one waaaay over there, and work on your witty comments?"

"Sarcasm takes two, brother."

Nothing. Sirrus couldn't believe it. He'd finally gotten off of that blasted rock and he couldn't even get the revenge that he had been planning for ages, it seemed?

Angrily, he kicked a book on the floor.

Wait a minute.

A book?

On the floor?

Suddenly, things began to click together. Somehow, Atrus had known that Sirrus was coming and linked off somewhere. That would explain the locks on every door. That would explain why Yeesha was missing. Atrus and Catherine took her with them.

"Very clever," he said, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Achenar! Get over here."

Sirrus lay the book on the kitchen table and opened it. There lay a moving image of a stage with a single, lonely chair on it.

"This is their safe place?" Achenar said quizzically. "But it's only an empty stage! I don't even see any seats."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, brother," Sirrus replied, tapping the cover of the book. "This Age could be full of booby traps, or it might be a trick image to a place far more secure."

"Or it might be a trap," Achenar pointed out.

Sirrus blinked and thought about what his brother had just said. Regrettably, Achenar was right.

"Very astute of you to notice that, brother. One of the few moments of intellect that you show. We'll leave it, then. They might be hiding and watching us as we speak."

"You mean the way _I_ am right now?"

Sirrus' blood turned to ice. He knew that voice. He'd heard it plead to him as he trapped its owner. He'd listened to it speak about the owner's home Age as he nodded off in the middle of the discussion, his brain focused on scheming and not on the lesson at hand.

He turned from the book to see his own brother hiding behind him, cowering in fear.

And he slowly looked back to find himself face to face with Saavedro.

_**Saavedro's Point of View**_

Here they were.

My tormentors.

The horrible urchins who left me stranded on that lonely, forgotten world. That place called J'nanin.

I hated them. Every fiber of their beings. And I was ready to get rid of them once and for all.

The hammer came out, the hammer I said that I'd never use again.

"And how are my _star pupils_ this evening?" I stepped forward, causing Sirrus to step back.

"N-no-now Saavedro, be reasonable!"

Another step forward.

"Reasonable? Why don't _you_ tell _me_ how _reasonable_ it was to ruin my life!"

Step.

"I was stuck there for the Weaving knows how long, Sirrus! Why? Why did you hurt my family? Why?"

Step.

"It was only through someone else that I was saved. Someone who was kinder than _you._ Someone who saw through my anger."

One final step. The criminal was pinned to the wall, without escape.

"But who put me there in the first place? I was wrong to go after Atrus, I know that now. I should have come after _you_. You and your idiot brother."

"Hey!" Achenar shouted from the back of the room. I didn't bother to turn and go after him. He was much bigger than I was, and I wasn't about to mess with someone who would potentially hurt me.

The hammer was poised neatly near the side of Sirrus' temple, ready to strike. Ready to give the final blow.

Suddenly, a noise behind me startled me. A familiar noise.

The sound of linking.

Achenar was escaping!

Unfortunately, having been startled by the noise and my sudden realization, I let go of Sirrus, who kicked me hard in the shin. I stumbled and fell to the floor in agony as I watched Sirrus link into a book lying on a nearby kitchen table.

Enraged, I ran over to the open book and linked after the boys.

Then it hit me.

I had no way back.


	5. Wow, Sirrus Sure is Easy to Annoy!

_Okay, okay, okay, HOLD IT! Stop the presses! New reviewer! Thanks for your kind words, Rehia! As for everyone else who is reading this right now, please review. It's the only thing that brightens my day after I come home from a long day of school, after-school drama until ungodly hours of the night, and a big steaming pile of homework to top it all off. Seriously. And it's what keeps me writing – knowing that people appreciate me. Even if you aren't a member here, I'm allowing anonymous reviews for now (unless it gets way out of hand), so please tell me what you think, even if it's negative – but don't flame me too much. This is my first Myst fanfic, after all, and I promise, they'll get better!_

* * *

"That was close." 

"Too close."

Sirrus and Achenar stood at what appeared to be some area backstage. To their left, they saw a single door with a golden star on it, obviously a dressing room, and to their right, the way offstage.

Sirrus went to get a closer look and noticed that the curtains were already open. Cautiously, he snuck a peek at the audience, but to his great surprise, found nobody there.

_Why,_ he thought, now utterly confused, _Would father write a link to an empty auditorium?_

He decided to examine the stage more by walking out onto it.

_Wait a minute…_

"Achenar?"  
"Yes, dear brother?"

"Don't run off, okay? We don't know how big this place is, or how dangerous."

Achenar giggled creepily. "Very well, I won't. Not _too_ far, at least."

Yeah, so his brother was a pain. That didn't mean that he wanted to be separated from him. Achenar was the only protection that he had.

But on to more pressing matters.

The stage in front of Sirrus was empty, but for a small blue chair, immodest and unassuming.

_This is getting more and more confusing by the second,_ Sirrus thought as he sat down in the chair to think over all that had gone on in the past few hours.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

Startled, Sirrus glanced around, searching for whoever had been speaking just a moment ago.

"Hello?" He called out, more than a little nervous.

"Sirrus… enjoys making stupid sculptures out of clay and mashed potatoes!"

Sirrus was taken aback at this comment, annoyed at being made fun of and wondering why in the world anyone would make sculptures out of clay and mashed potatoes.

"Uh, what?"

Suddenly, it hit him. Achenar was hiding somewhere and taunting him, as usual. Yet, the voice didn't _sound_ like Achenar…

"Sirrus… he's not very smart!"

"I beg your pardon? I think I'm quite intelligent, thank you!"

"Sirrus… he's so stupid that he eats carpets for dinner!"

"Achenar, cut it out!"

"Achenar who?"

"Achenar _you,_ you numbskull."

"Sirrus… he's a numbskull!"

"That's what I just said!"

"That's what I just said!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

"Achenar, shut up!"

"Sirrus… he's so stupid that he thinks I'm his insane older brother."

Sirrus was about to say something else, but realized that this comment was actually true and shut up.

"Sirrus… I just made him shut up!"

This was beginning to get very annoying.

"Okay, whoever you are," Sirrus challenged, "Show yourself, and I promise that I won't hurt you. Not too badly, at least."

"Sirrus… look! Gold!"

"Where?" Sirrus looked around expectantly, but to his chagrin found that it had been a joke all along.

The mysterious person laughed. "Sirrus… I just fooled him into thinking that there was gold behind him!"

"I hate you…"

"Well, fine! Then I hate you!"

"I hate you more."

"I hate you the most, you big stupid poopy-head."

"I hate you to infinity!"

"I hate you to double infinity!"

"I hate you to the next Age and back again!"

"I hate you more than that!"

"I hate you to twenty-five!"

"I hate you even more than all of that!"

"Well… uh… FATHER! ACHENAR IS PICKING ON ME!!!"

The mysterious person's voice suddenly dropped into a perfect imitation of Atrus. "Now, Sirrus, stop picking on your brother!"

"But he's picking on… wait a minute. This is another one of your tricks!"

"Sirrus… eats whale blubber!"

"What's a whale?"

"Sirrus… doesn't cook his steaks!"

"What? That's disgusting!"

"Sirrus… is disgusting!"

"I am not! I'm quite clean, thank you very much!"

"Sirrus… is a dirty pig!"

"What's a pig?"

"It's what you are!"

"I am not a dirty pig, whatever that is!"

"Sirrus… likes to disco dance every Friday night and sing like a little girl!"

"That makes no sense! I'm not a moron!"

"Fine. I agree. You aren't a moron - you're an idiot!"

"SHUT UP!!!!"

"Now you know Sirrus… the idiotic pig who eats raw steak!"

"What? You don't know me! They don't know me! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN GET ACHENAR TO KILL YOU!!!!"

* * *

Sirrus stormed offstage, looking extremely annoyed. Achenar watched him from the big pile of blue chairs he was sitting on top of, swinging his legs and singing some random song under his breath. 

"Achenar? Where are you?" Sirrus sounded angry, and there was nothing more that Achenar enjoyed than seeing his brother annoyed.

"I'm up here, brother!" he shouted before jumping off of the top of the massive pile and landing perfectly on his feet. Being trapped in a jungle world certainly did have its perks, such as becoming more agile.

Sirrus jumped back, startled at having his older brother land in a cat-like manner two feet in front of him.

"Don't do that again," he said, sounding weary and tired.

Achenar flashed an eerie smile at him. "Don't worry, I won't."

_**Meanwhile, elsewhere backstage…**_

Saavedro glanced about at the eerie surroundings of the backstage area he was clearly in. (Though it wasn't as clean as some of the theater areas he had seen back on Narayan.) The whole area was dark, and for a while he found himself stumbling around, trying not to trip on anything. Why, oh why had he followed Sirrus and Achenar here?

He stopped trying to walk for the moment, to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and to think about what had just happened. He linked from Narayan to Atrus' house, albeit a different part of it. Sirrus and Achenar were there. He had followed them here. And now he was stuck here.

_Wait… I'm stuck here?_

"What?" Saavedro cried out in annoyance. "I get done with one twenty-year exile, and then I get flung straight into another one? Why me?"

Angrily, he kicked the wall nearby, which unfortunately hurt quite a bit. Saavedro winced and, mumbling to himself, walked off to find someone else. There _had_ to be someone here, this was an auditorium, for crying out loud!

For a brief moment, he thought that he heard someone screaming from onstage. So there _was_ someone here! Well, if he had to be trapped again, at least it would help to have someone to talk with.

Upon closer listening, however, Saavedro realized that the person yelling was Sirrus. Knowing that Achenar was probably somewhere nearby, he decided to lay low, crawling past props and sometimes hiding behind them in case he was seen.

After pausing behind a rather large chair, decorated with various fruits and the like, he began to think about where he might find other people.

_Hmm. The dressing rooms are a good bet. But where are they?_

Cautiously, he glanced out from behind the chair. There, about ten feet away, was a wooden door with a golden star carefully hung onto it. This was obviously it.

Unfortunately, the whole area in front of it was blank, and he could hear Achenar singing some irritating tune and thumping something that sounded like it was hollow. Did Achenar have a weapon with him?

Carefully, carefully, Saavedro snuck out from behind the chair and began to make his way towards the dressing room. Of course, it helped that he was barefoot, so his footsteps made little sound as he approached the door.

Unfortunately, he didn't count on Achenar noticing his movements, but he realized that he had been spotted when he glanced upwards to see that Achenar had lit a fire marble, which ended up spotlighting the entire area.

"Hey!" Achenar shouted, hopping down from the massive pile of chairs that he had been sitting on.

_Oh, crap._

Saavedro ran as fast as he could (which was actually pretty fast), just barely making it to the dressing room in time.

Unfortunately, the door was locked.

Frantically, he began to pound on the door as Achenar drew ever closer.

"Let me in! Please! Help me! Let me in!"

To his great surprise, the door opened and Saavedro found himself on the carpeted floor of the pink-walled dressing room with three people looking down at him.

"Saavedro?" Atrus asked quizzically.

"Are you alright?" Catherine asked.

"Achenar, leave him alone!" the Stranger shouted, trying to get rid of the insane older brother and help Saavedro at the same time. She finally succeeded in getting Achenar to leave by throwing one of the small chocolate bars that were in a jar on a small end table out of the door. Achenar happily followed, and she shut the door behind him and locked it.

Saavedro sat up, his back against the wall and his heart pounding. He knew everyone here! Atrus… that girl who helped him… Catherine…

"Where am I?" he asked. "What are all of you doing here?"

"It's a long story," the Stranger said, helping herself to the jar of chocolate.

"Am I stuck here?" Saavedro replied, eyes wide with horror.

Atrus, Catherine, and the Stranger glanced at each other worriedly.

"I hope not," Catherine said. "But this is an auditorium. There's got to be a way out. Isn't there?"

"I checked," Atrus said, shaking his head. "There's none. There are doors, but every single one is locked tight. They're surprisingly difficult to break open."

"Do you think that my hammer might do the trick?" Saavedro asked. "If someone will come with me to make sure that Achenar doesn't try to attack me again, I might be able to break them."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," the Stranger replied. "If the locks here are similar to the ones back where I come from, they're deadbolt locks, and there's no way that we can get in to smack them with your hammer."

"But how did you manage to open the dressing room door?"

"It was already opened. Quite odd, really. Usually, the director or stage manager locks up the dressing rooms before they leave for the night."

"Maybe this auditorium has different rules?" Catherine suggested.

"Whatever," the Stranger replied, "We can go all day and night wondering about the auditorium and how to get out, but what I want to know is, who is that guy that's been talking to all of us?"

"What guy?" Saavedro asked, quite interested now.

The Stranger looked at Atrus and Catherine gravely.

"You'll see soon enough," she said. If Achenar's out there, Sirrus is, too. And, since we heard screaming from the stage earlier, I don't doubt that the weird voice out there has found them."

"It sounded like Sirrus was yelling to me," Saavedro added.

"Then it's Achenar's turn after him," Atrus replied grimly. "And after that, I fear that you're next."

_PWNED! Sirrus was struck down, and Achenar's next. And how will Saavedro fare? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out…_


	6. Achenar's Sweet Revenge

_I have returned with a few reviews. Where was I? Busy. And that's all that you need to know at this point. _:)_ Whuzzup with this story? Four people have been flattened, smooshed, crushed, and entirely humiliated. That leaves our next unwitting 'player', Achenar, and after him Saavedro, to take the field. Be on your toes, though, people! There might be some other characters joining the party. Or maybe not. Maybe I got all of your hopes up for nothing._ :) _Sick of my babbling yet? Very well, then – on with the story!_

_**Dislaimer: I don't own Myst, nor do I own Hershey. It'd be cool if I did, though. It'd be almost like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Mmm... chocolate. Aslo, WARNING: Don't read this chapter whilst hungry and having bad chocolate cravings. Seriously. It'll make you crave it worse.**  
_

* * *

Achenar looked at the piece of candy in his hand, a small bar labeled "Hershey". Not exactly knowing what a 'Hershey' was, he opened the wrapper. There lay a tiny brown rectangle of what appeared to be chocolate. 

Happily, Achenar ate the tiny candy. Yes… it had certainly been a long time since he had last tasted this. Which was why he was careful to conserve it.

Unfortunately, it still didn't last very long.

Achenar glanced at the door with the golden star and considered his options. He could try to barge in there and steal the candy – no, he was outnumbered four to one. He could ask nicely – uh, that still probably wasn't going to work. Hmm… could he take on four people at once?

Annoyed at his lack of a plan, he stood up and kicked the door, which created a small dent in the wood. Of course, this was quite painful when you had soft animal skin boots on, and so the end result was of Achenar falling backwards and eventually sitting up, muttering about his foot and the stupidity of the door in question.

Eventually, Achenar forgot about the chocolate, his foot, and the stupid door, and began to look for his brother, who was almost certainly crying somewhere in a corner, begging for help. Though 'helping' Sirrus wasn't exactly what Achenar intended to do…

Eventually, Achenar ended up on the very same stage he had seen his brother on earlier, yelling and cursing up a storm. _That was enjoyable,_ he thought to himself as he took a seat in the plastic blue chair.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

Achenar looked around expectantly, half thinking that it was Sirrus playing a joke on him, and half thinking that it was… something else. Living in a jungle where danger lurked around almost every corner was certainly not helping by adding to Achenar's growing unease.

"Hello?" he called out warily. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Achenar was startled greatly when the voice that spoke earlier said his name.

"Achenar… has a Huggy-Wuggy Stuffy Bear!"

"What?" Achenar asked, quite clearly confused. What in the worlds was a 'Huggy-Wuggy Stuffy Bear'?

"Achenar… is always confused!"

Achenar did not respond, probably because he really did have no clue as to what was going on.

"Uh… okay. Achenar… eats pig lard!"

With no clue as to what a 'pig' was, Achenar asked "What's a pig? And I actually don't mind lard that much…"

Clearly the voices in his head were playing tricks on him. Wait a minute… hadn't he gone through therapy for that?

Now extremely distressed, Achenar yelled "I'm going crazy! Again!"

"Yeah. You do that…" Clearly, this victim was beginning to freak the voice out. Nonetheless, it managed to squeak out another insult.

"Achenar… um… uh… eats… camodiles?"

"Actually, they do make very good steaks." Seeing how much like Sirrus the voice appeared to be, Achenar decided to continue prodding the person.

"Yeah… really good, I bet…"

"I like to eat them raw."

At this, the voice made an audible noise that sounded as if the person had choked.

"Do you, now?"

"Yup. Raw. With fish guts and swamp worms. Mmm – mmm."

The voice made another noise that sounded like violent vomiting, to the great delight of Achenar. Who only continued to goad the voice.

"And what about chocolate?"

"I wouldn't eat it if I were you."

The voice sounded weak and almost like it was going to vomit again.

"I… really don't think that we should talk about this."

"But I like gore. And pointy things. Yay I like pointy things!"

"Erm…"

The voice was clearly spooked by Achenar, which only made said character all the happier.

"You know, one time I serial stalked this guy in the Mechanical Age…"

"I bet that -" here the voice gulped audibly "- was a blast."

"It certainly was." Achenar had now started to slip back into his 'crazy brother' ruse, one that he often used to unnerve people, though at one time it was very real. Nonetheless, it worked like a charm.

"H-ho-how did y-you ki… kill…"

"Kill him?" Achenar asked with mock relish. "Took a knife to him. Got him in the back and then…" He lifted a finger and drew it across his neck horizontally, hoping that whoever the person was got the point.

He certainly got the point, for at the same time Achenar heard a scared little "Oh" from the voice.

"The pleasure was all mine, really," Achenar continued. "No, really. It _was_ mine."

He could hear the voice's knees shaking from over the intercom. His act was working perfectly.

"I think that the guy had a job as that voice you always hear over the intercom…"

A sudden audible thud reverberated through the auditorium. The voice, whoever he was, had fainted from sheer fright.

Achenar grinned gleefully. "Father was right," he said as he began to walk offstage, "I should've been an actor."

_**Meanwhile, somewhere backstage…**_

Silence was overcome with the roar of the link, followed by a very bewildered – looking figure in a white maintainer's uniform. His dark skin, golden from the sun of a once living Age, blended into the shadows almost perfectly, though he was still light enough to be seen by the naked eye.

His curious dark eyes scanned the area in child-like wonder. He had never seen a place such as this before, with rough grey brick in place of smooth adobe walls and large black blankets hanging from the skies by long iron bars. It may not be surprising to us, since we know that these are only curtains and that the man was backstage, but it was constantly surprising to him, and as he gazed at the place in astonishment, he could only ask one dumbfounded question, an expression that he had used upon meeting another being from somewhere else. The word that he had uttered before recalling his master's orders.

"Cho?"

Cho blinked for the moment, letting all of the environment soak in, then recalled the reason he was here – to release his imprisoned lord. Of course, that required the ultimate sacrifice – a sacrifice that Cho was not exactly willing to make unless he needed to. Hey, it wasn't like he was looking forward to being stuck somewhere for the rest of his life!

Hoping that he would find someone else to share companionship with, and fearing that there might be something rather sinister lurking just beyond the things that he could see, he hastened his pace, tightly clutching the green book he was carrying under his arm.

_**Meanwhile, in the Dressing Room…**_

_I love chocolate. I love it, I love it so much, and it's the only good thing about this Godforsaken Age that Atrus wrote._

The Stranger was busily pulling wrapper after wrapper off of the tiny chocolates found in the jar on the desk, and she was enjoying every bite of the chocolate inside. The others hadn't asked for any, and though she offered some to each of them at one point or another, only Saavedro had actually eaten some, and now was trying to snatch the chocolate from the Stranger's fingers when she wasn't looking. The Stranger, rather than share with Saavedro after offering him a piece, had hogged the jar for herself, and Saavedro had since gotten good at timing exactly when to grab and run.

Catherine and Atrus, meanwhile, were playing a quick game of Heek, with Catherine winning, much to Atrus' chagrin. Occasionally, the couple would look up and watch for how Saavedro would try to snatch the Stranger's candy next, which was actually much more entertaining than it sounded, for at one point both got into a huge fight over one bar and both ended up with minor bumps and bruises to show for it.

Eventually, Saavedro began to tire of chasing after the candy, and he wasn't really that hungry, anyway.

"I'm bored," he whined, glancing carelessly at the game going on between the couple. "I'm going to go look for a way out."

"Are you sure that you want to do that?" The Stranger asked sarcastically. "Achenar's still out there, you know."

At this, Saavedro clammed up, not speaking for the remainder of the time.

Eventually, this silence was broken when a deep pounding came from the door.

"What is that?" Catherine asked, as bewildered as everyone else in the room.

"I don't know," the Stranger responded jokingly. "Maybe that guy is a fan of heavy metal music."

Nobody laughed at this, either because it wasn't particularly funny, or because the didn't understand the joke.

_**Meanwhile, just outside the Dressing Room door…**_

"Sirrus! Cut it out, the pounding hurts my head!"

"Oh, shut up, you big lummox. You're actually useful for something this time. I thought that you'd be grateful."

Sirrus currently had Achenar running head-first into the door at full-speed, and since it was wood, it would easily splinter and break with enough time. Sirrus had gotten the idea after Achenar had explained the dent that had appeared in the door as a result of him trying to kick the door open, and, Sirrus figured, since Achenar was the harder-headed brother, he would be perfect for the job of trying to ram it open.

"I think it's almost broken through."

"I'm about ready to almost break _you_ through, dear brother."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Moo-shoo-goo, and all that."

Sirrus gave his brother a look of bewilderment. "Uh, what?"

"Nothing, nothing," Achenar responded. "I assure you, you were hearing things."

Sirrus gave him a suspicious glance. "Erm, okay. You just keep pounding on that door until it gives way. Assuredly soon, by the looks of things."

Achenar took one last running start, and like a massive freight train collided with the door at such great force as to break a hole through it. Achenar lay dizzy and achy on the floor, partially inside of the room and partially outside of it. Four astonished, spooked, and surprised people looked down at the now unconscious Achenar and then up at the equally amazed Sirrus.

Only the Stranger, bold as she was, dared to break the silence.

"So, what now?" she asked, smiling cryptically. "Did you two stop by to borrow a cup of sugar?"

_**Meanwhile…**_

Cho glanced at the remains of the door from afar. A tall, thin man stood in front of it, perhaps guarding the hole, but after a few moments, he entered, causing a flurry of voices to erupt in speech.

In the same language as the traveler he had encountered in the cage.

_You idiot,_ he thought to himself, _You'll be walking into a death trap! You were His lackey, His servant. Do you really think that they'll allow you inside?_

And yet, they were still people. And Cho couldn't live alone forever.

So, in through the hole in the door he went, again causing a commotion.

"Cho?" Asked the Stranger, in a perfect representation of the way he had said the word.

"I thought he died when Riven collapsed," Catherine whispered.

"What in the worlds are you doing here?" Atrus asked, confused and more than a bit skeptical of Cho's motives after having spied a conspicuous green book tucked under his arm.

"Uh, did we miss something?" Achenar asked.

"I'm fairly certain we did, brother," Sirrus responded.

"What in the Weaving is going on here?" Saavedro asked, utterly confused.

"Looks like he missed something, too," Sirrus pointed out.

"Well, twenty years _is_ a long time without word from the outside – hey, wait a minute!"

Saavedro, upon snapping out of the mass confusion caused by Cho's entrance, suddenly realized that Sirrus and Achenar had been standing in the room, which caused another mass hysteria due to Saavedro whipping his hammer out and chasing the boys around the room with it. Cho looked confused and stood there dumbly, out of the way of the chase that had ensued. Atrus and Catherine were trying to separate Saavedro from the two boys, while the Stranger was just trying to settle the argument to begin with. Eventually, Cho said one word, the only word of English that he did know.

"Silence!"

The entire room grew silent, with the Stranger not saying much of anything except something that sounded an awful lot like "OmigawdChocanspeakEnglish?"

Eventually, a microphone squeal followed by the words "Test, testing, test one-two-three. There. All fixed up. Now, to prepare for the next sap who walks out here," broke the silence.

"Oh crap," the Stranger said. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. He's preparing again. And he's going to take another one of us."

Atrus sighed. "Wait, wait, don't panic," he said. "Who here hasn't been insulted by this, sorry if it offends anyone here, bahro of a person?"

"He got me," The Stranger offered helpfully. "And he got you."

"Well, that's two of us," Atrus said. "Who else?"

"Me," Catherine said.

"He got me pretty good," Sirrus replied, "But Achenar seems to have one-upped him."

"Cool!" Achenar shouted. "I'm a threat!"

"That's four," Atrus said. "There are six of us here. And hopefully," here he nervously glanced at Cho's green book, "It will remain that way."

The Stranger blinked in sudden realization. "There are two who haven't gone yet," she said, "And look at the order we linked in. You went first, then Catherine, then me. But you shoved me out on stage first because you were a chicken and didn't want to go, so our positions in the line-up switched."

"Then came Achenar and I," Sirrus continued, catching on to the idea. "But Achenar went first – why was I bothered first?"

"Because," the Stranger explained, "You went onstage first, so you bore the brunt of the insults. Achenar managed to make the person's plan backfire through a sort of scare tactics from what you've said, which caused the person to faint and leave us alone for a bit."

"But it wasn't enough," Saavedro added. "I linked next, so I have to go out there. Cho was last, so he goes after me. Unless we draw straws – I'm not necessarily looking forward to being insulted mercilessly."

Cho said something in rapid Rivenese, which Catherine translated as "I'm not going, either, the hammer man can go. He has a weapon."

"Oh, no," Saavedro responded, backing away from the door. "Not doing it."

"Play rock, paper, scissors," the Stranger suggested. "The person who gets best two out of three doesn't have to go."

So, as Saavedro and Cho lined up to play rock, paper, scissors, the Stranger counted wins and losses.

Unfortunately for Saavedro, he lost.

He sighed, unable to beat the fact that the game was fair, and it was his turn to go.

"If I die," he said, stepping through the hole in the door, "And you guys find a way out, go tell my wife that I love her. And keep Sirrus, Achenar, and that creepy Cho guy away from my funeral."

* * *

_Uh-oh, here it goes… how will Saavedro fare? You'll just have to wait and see… NEXT CHAPTER!!!! (Insert evil laughter here)

* * *

_

Author's Notes: Uh, yeah. I got a tad un-Myst-ish in places. First of all, do not ask me how Achenar knows what chocolate is. We'll all just assume that the D'ni enjoy chocolate as much as the next race, and say no more about it. Second of all, I don't know how Cho and the green book got here, either. They fell into this age through a random rift in the Star Fissure that they fell through after it was opened at the end of Riven. (Convenient placed plothole explaination) Last thing - please don't PM me about why Saavedro and Cho were playing rock, paper, scissors when both come from different ages and have never even heard of the game. How do they know it? The Stranger taught them. There. All random discrepencies are now fixed. You may go back to your regularly-schedualed sanity now.


	7. Saavedro, Cats, and a Dire MYSTery

_Happy Holidays, Y'all! Bet you missed me, huh? Here I am again, glorious and triumphant, with the next chapter of "Know Your Myst Stars!" fanfare Please enjoy the show. _:)

_Poor Saavedro. It's just one thing after another for him, isn't it? Being betrayed, getting stuck somewhere for twenty years, and now this. How will he do? Will he be able to keep himself from knocking Sirrus and Achenar senseless afterwards? Will he be able to keep himself from knocking anybody else senseless afterwards? You'll see…_

**_Disclaimer: Myst III: Exile, Santa Claus, and Cats are not mine, even though one is my favorite game, one is something that I no longer believe in, and one is a musical that my High School is doing and that I am in. (I'm Cassandra!) Also, Jenga and Sorry are not mine. They're just two of my favorite games._**

_**WARNING: This chapter gets a bit graphic and very disturbing at the end, especially if you are a fan of a certain Narayani, as I am. Don't take it personally, I'm not a Saavy-hater or a sick, twisted person that fantasizes about cruel, painful methods of torture. Really. I just put it to add to the drama of the moment and build up suspense and surprise for the ending. Some other characters may make an appearance later, some from Myst V, some from other places. And the meaning of Cho and the green book will be explained later. Here's a hint: it involves Gehn and a now outdated theory about linking books.**_

Saavedro cautiously stepped onto the stage, hammer poised for attack if he needed it. The stage was empty, but someone could be lurking around the next corner, waiting to ambush him. It always payed off to be prepared.

Noticing the small blue chair in the center of the stage, and noticing that the materials it used did not look natural, Saavedro walked over to it. Tapping the blue portion resulted in a thudding noise, and the feel of it was smooth with tiny ridges and bumps on them. It was a little flexible, but rigid, and obviously synthetic. Assuming that it was safe enough, Saavedro sat down, still attentive to what was going on.

"Know your starts, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

Saavedro jumped at this sudden voice. What was going on? Chairs made of a tough, resin-like substance? Voices from nowhere?

"Have I gone crazy?" Saavedro shouted to nobody in particular.

Saavedro jumped again when he heard the booming voice speak once more.

"Saavedro… is crazy!"

His confusion turned to anger in an instant.

"I'm not crazy!" he yelled. "I'm just… a little… disturbed, okay?"

"Saavedro… enjoys eating plastic!"

"What's plastic?"

"It's what your chair's made out of, stupid!"

"That's it!" Saavedro shouted, picking up his hammer and searching for the source of the voice, "I'm going to kill you for that!"

"Saavedro… has been to jail forty-one times!"

The Narayan native quickly spun around at this comment.

"I have not!" he protested.

"Oh, sorry, my mistake – forty-_two_ times!"

"WHAT?!?"

"Saavedro… is a pimp!"

"What! I've been faithful to my wife for TWENTY YEARS! It's not like there even WERE any chicks on J'nanin!"

"You see what I mean? He thinks with his -"

"SHUT! UP!!!"

"Saavedro… bathes in squee bile!"

"That's disgusting and perverted! Who would do that?"

"You."

"I HATE YOU!!!"

"Saavedro… is a disgusting pervert!"

"You idiotic, sick, twisted son of a Squee! Who are you?! WHY?!?"

"Because you deserve it."

Oh, that burned him up!

"How," Saavedro said through clenched teeth, "In the Weaving do I deserve _THIS?!?_"

"Because Santa said that you were naughty."

"Who's that?"

"A big fat guy who breaks into your house at night and gives you stuff."

"Even if the door is locked?"

"Even if the door is locked."

"This Santa guy sounds like he's a bad person. Bad people need to be sent to jail for breaking and entering. And then he needs to be shot."

All of the little kids reading this fanfiction began to cry.

"Aww, you made the little kids cry, Saavedro, how could you?"

Saavedro realized that he had been lured into a clever logic trap.

"Oh, perfect," he muttered under his breath.

"Saavedro… enjoys making little kids cry!"

"I do not! Are you sure that you have the right person?"

"I'm sure. Saavedro… is a creep!"

"I AM NOT A CREEP!"

Suddenly, a picture of Saavedro with an extremely creepy and wild look on his face flashed onto a screen behind him.

"I don't know, that looks pretty creepy to me," the Voice said.

"I had _problems_ then!"

"You sure that all of those problems are gone?"

Saavedro couldn't think of something to shoot back, so he shut his mouth.

"Exactly. Saavedro… He likes to be perverted with cats!"

Saavedro looked like he was going to explode.

He did.

"WHAT?!?"

"Saavedro… his favorite musical is Cats because he likes the actors' skin-tight costumes!"

"That's disgusting!"

Suddenly, video footage of a Broadway production of Cats rolled, showing close-ups of hot actresses dancing gracefully in costumes so tight that you could have sworn that they weren't wearing anything. Saavedro stared at the footage, anger threatening to burst forward like lava from a volcano.

"Okay, that's about the most retarded thing I've ever seen!"

"But you've _seen_ it."

"Arrrrggghhhh…"

"Saavedro… he's a dog! Arf, arf!"

"I. AM. NOT. A. DOG!!!"

"Aww, poor little dog. Here, chase the kitty, dog! Chase the kitty!"

Suddenly, a figure that looked as if she could have come directly from Cats appeared on stage. Her make-up and outfit gave the impression of a Siamese cat, skin-tight unitard and all.

"You idiot!" She yelled, "Take me back home! I'm going to get my High School and director to sue you!"

Saavedro stared at the poor girl, who similarly stared back at Saavedro.

"Hey," the cat-girl said, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

The voice returned to antagonize Saavedro and the girl more.

"Saavedro, meet Cassandra. Cassandra, Saavedro."

"For the record," the girl replied, "My name is -"

"The Weaving, how many people are you going to pull into this cat-and-mouse game?!?"

"Meow!" Cassandra yelled.

"I happen to be enjoying myself," the voice replied.

"Meow!"

"I hate you," Saavedro replied.

"Meow!"

"But I like you. You're so easy to annoy."

"Meow!"

Suddenly both Saavedro and the Voice yelled "SHUT UP!" at the poor actress, making her cringe and shudder.

"Sorry," Cassandra said feebly.

"Now that we've got that figured out, I am not a dog!"

"Woof!"

"Stop it!"

"Woof, woof!"

"SHUT UP!"

The stage was suddenly filled with a decidedly non-harmonious sound that resembled a sick dinosaur, or possibly, a dying dog.

"Meeeeeeemmmorrryyyy… all alooooneee in the moooooooonliiiight!!!!"

Saavedro clapped his hands to his ears in an attempt to drown out Cassandra's terrible singing, but to no avail.

"Oh, get off the stage, already!" the Voice yelled. Suddenly, a barrage of tomatoes rained down upon the poor anthropomorphosized cat, making her stop singing and start running for cover, which she only found off-stage.

"And don't come back!" the Voice yelled after her. Saavedro was about to go after her when he slipped on a squished tomato and fell flat on his face.

The Voice boomed with cruel laughter that echoed about the auditorium, making it seem as if several people were laughing at once.

"Saavedro… he just slipped and fell because he's clumsy!"

Saavedro felt just about ready to kill. Again.

"Saavedro… he likes to wear a dress!"

"It isn't a dress! It's a robe!"

"Sure… it's a man-dress!"

"I'm not a cross-dresser! SHUT UP!"

"Sure you're not…"

"I'm not!"

"Saavedro… he's a tree-hugger!"

"I'm not a tree-hugger! It's my job! It's all of my cultures' job!"

"Saavedro… lives with a race of tree-huggers!"

That was the final straw. He could take being insulted, but insult his family and be prepared to face an enraged animal glaring daggers sharp enough to pierce your soul with fear and freeze you, making you the perfect target to take his anger out on.

"Nobody," Saavedro said in a tone as chilling as ice, "Makes fun of my homeworld and gets away with it!!!!"

Saavedro angrily picked up the chair and held it above his head, searching for the voice's source and finding a small speaker mounted on high. He tossed the chair with all of his adrenaline-saturated might, and both the chair and the speaker came tumbling down. The chair landed somewhere in the audience area, and the speaker landed on stage with a crash.

The destruction the fall caused was not enough for Saavedro, who whipped out his hammer and proceeded to viciously smack the speaker into tiny flakes of plastic, metal, and circuits. Finally, when the speaker lay in unspeakable ruins, Saavedro backed away.

"That ought to teach you a lesson!" he yelled with all of his might. "NEVER MESS WITH A NARAYANI, especially an angry one!"

Suddenly, Saavedro heard the voice speak out from the ruined remains of the speaker. It began to giggle slowly, then chuckle, then laugh, then full-out cackle in insane pleasure.

"That, Saavedro," the voice said, "Was the most remarkable thing I've seen in a long time. I've seen anger, but _that…_ that was raw, wild anger! That was amazingly chilling! You certainly are a threat!"

"That's right," Saavedro replied, obviously proud of his work. "I am."

"Yes, a very fine job. That's why you force me to do this."

Saavedro frowned at this last part, but before he could ask what the voice meant, he felt something hit his arm, followed by a stinging sensation. Looking down, he saw a small dart with a tuft of colored feathers at the end sticking out of his upper arm.

Saavedro began to feel woozy and tired. Something on the dart had poisoned him! He had to get help. He started to walk offstage, but whatever was on the tip of the dart caused him to stumble and fall.

The last thing he saw before everything blacked out was a black-clad figure coming straight for him…

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Hey, has anyone got any threes?"

"Go fish."

"Darn it!"

The remaining few people left in the dressing room were now playing Go Fish, since they had run out of ideas for stuff to do a while ago. The only means of amusement were a deck of cards, the game Sorry, and the game Jenga.

After Sirrus won Heek earlier, everyone decided that he had been cheating and ousted him from the game, which Achenar got bored with, joining his brother at Sorry. This time, Atrus won the card game and Catherine and the Stranger went to go play Sorry, which let Atrus to amuse himself with Jenga by stacking the bricks into different buildings and formations. The Stranger won Sorry, proclaiming that green was her lucky color, and joined Atrus in playing Jenga for the next hour.

Eventually, a system was set up so that people could rotate games every so often. This got boring after playing the same games over and over, however, and so several times somebody would be seen sitting out or napping.

Eventually, the Stranger noticed that no sound was coming from the stage and left to see what was going on, leaving the rest of the characters to play cards.

Ten minutes after the Stranger left, Sirrus began to feel a little uneasy at how the Stranger had noticed how silent it was.

"I think that she has a point there," he said. "I haven't heard any frantic screaming lately."

"There was that awful rendition of 'Memory' that I heard earlier, though," Catherine pointed out. "Or was that a sick wahrk?"

Cho, who was sitting in the corner and watching the game, muttered something in rapid Rivenese.

"Cho thinks that maybe the voice scared Saavedro off," Catherine translated.

"I don't think so," Achenar replied, trying to organize his hand of cards without giving them away. "Saavedro's too strong of a fighter for that."

"We still took him down that one time, though," Sirrus responded.

"Yeah, we did… I felt kind of bad leaving him there, you know.

"What kind of insane, twisted evil villain are you? Villains don't feel remorse for their victims!"

"I told you once, Sirrus, and I'll tell you again, I've gone through therapy. I'm different now."

Sirrus scoffed at this. "Looks like the thickness of your skull hasn't changed a bit, brother dear."

"Okay, that's it!" Achenar yelled, charging at the much faster and fleet of foot Sirrus. The brothers chased each other around the room a couple of times before Atrus finally yelled at them to cut it out. Which they didn't do.

Cho suddenly stepped in front of the running duo and yelled something that Catherine translated as "Stop and sit in the chairs." This proved to be a bad idea, however, for instead of stopping, Sirrus swerved out of the way, and Achenar, being big and fast-moving at the same time, could not slow down enough to prevent a nasty collision with Cho. The two men lay on the floor in a tangled heap, shouting at each other loudly. It took several minutes to disentangle them, but eventually both were released relatively unharmed. (Except for Cho sustaining a black eye, that is.)

Sirrus merely grinned at his brother who walked towards the far end of the room, holding his head in agony.

"You're lucky that your hard head protected that tiny brain of yours," Sirrus quipped, "Or else you might have sustained a concussion."

"Why you little…"

Catherine finally stepped in between her sons and told them to cut it out or she would stick them both back in their books for the rest of their lives.

At that, both shut up.

Suddenly, a very panicked-looking Stranger ran into the room, holding what appeared to be the remains of a speaker.

"What is the matter, my friend?" Atrus asked, walking up to the upset girl.

"What happened?" Catherine asked worriedly.

"Why are you holding a broken speaker?" Sirrus asked.

"Ooh, she broke it…" Achenar said for no particular reason.

"You big lummox, why would she break a speaker for no good reason?"

"I don't know. Maybe a wahrk broke it."

Sirrus shot him a dirty look.

"It could happen!"

The Stranger shook her head slowly, the shocked expression never leaving her pale face.

Cho asked something, which Catherine translated as "Well, what's the matter, then?"

"This."

The Stranger placed the remains on the pink carpeted floor and lifted out a small cassette tape inside of a tape player. She picked it up and pressed play.

Several moments of static was heard, followed by the evil laughter of the voice in question.

"So, you found the tape, did you?" it jeered. "Good for you. It's a wonder your little friend didn't break it. Oh, and speaking of which, if you're looking for him, you won't find him on stage or backstage, for that matter. You're probably all panicking ring now. Saying stuff like, where is he? Where is our dear friend? Oh, no! You're all running around like chickens with their heads cut off!"

More insane laughter was inserted here.

"Where is he? I have him! Where am I? You'll never find me! Who am I? You'll never know. He's mine, and he's not going back home. _Ever_. Do you know why, Atrus?"

Atrus jumped after hearing his name spoken in such an ice-cold tone.

"Because," the voice continued, "I have the only linking book out of here! You're all stuck here. Stuck in my little game. So, answer me this, my little pawns – are we having fun yet? Because I'm enjoying myself immensely!"

Even Sirrus looked horrified at the idea of this person's nefarious plot to keep them as slaves to his 'game'. It was diabolical. It was terrible. It was horrible.

Why had Sirrus never thought of it?

"Oh, Stranger?" the voice said in a sickly-sweet tone. "You scared yet? Surely such a brave and noble adventurer as you wouldn't be scared of having to live forever in a game. You already do! And Catherine, you've been trapped before. What's one more time going to hurt? And now I turn to the brothers. Sirrus and Achenar. Classic. Like salt and pepper. Red and blue. Bread and butter. The perfect evil duo. But I wonder – do villains fear their own doom? Do they shudder whenever they think of it? Are they terrified at the thought of the metaphorical monster beneath their beds?"

Every single eye and ear was fixed on the tape recording, frightened and intrigued at the same time.

"I believe that there is another character that you are forgetting. Another piece to the puzzle of who I am. I could be anyone in all of Myst's continuity, but then again, anyone can change their voice."

A sudden banging noise was heard in the background, followed by muffled screams of terror.

"That would be my hostage," the voice continued coolly. "It sounds like his torture is going quite well. Perhaps he'd even be so kind as to tell me where all of you are hiding. I've been needing more slaves around here, and good help is terribly difficult to find these days."

The entire group of characters glanced at each other nervously. This person was a madman, and he had to be stopped, but how?

"Come face me, if you dare. Come search for me if you like. I'll keep Saavedro comfortable while you're looking."

Sudden cries of pain rang out in background of the tape.

"And for your friend's sake," the voice added, "Don't keep me waiting."

The tape ended there, leaving villain and hero alike stunned and terrified, but no more so than the Stranger, who felt such rage and fear at seeing an ally of hers being hurt that she kicked a hole in the wall, weeping all the while.

"We have to stop him," she said through the tears that streaked her face. "He can't _do_ this to him! Saavedro's as much of a friend to me as Atrus is. And if it were Atrus with that psychopath, I'd do the same thing – go after the twisted fiend holding him prisoner."

"Screw him," Sirrus said, walking over to a chair in the corner. "You go risk your lives, I'm staying here."

Suddenly, to everyone's great surprise, Atrus walked over to the Stranger and stood by her side.

"Saavedro has gone through too much," Atrus said. "He doesn't deserve this. I'm not sure about any of you, but I'm standing by my friend on this one."

"Geez, Atrus," the Stranger remarked, "Would it kill you to call me by my name for once?"

"I would, but that would ruin the player's sense of adventure and self."

"Good point. What about the rest of you? Will you help us?"

Achenar stepped forward.

"I've done some bad things in the past," he said, "Especially to Saavedro. But now I'm going to change that, and maybe redeem myself."

Catherine turned to join the group. "I didn't know Saavedro personally, but I know that nobody deserves torture."

Cho walked over to the group, leaving Sirrus by himself.

"B…b…but you'll all be enslaved!" Sirrus stuttered. "He'll torture you all! You'll be trapped forever! Is that how you want to live?"

"There's strength in numbers, Sirrus," the Stranger replied. "And if you help us, even though you don't necessarily like Saavedro, we'll be one person stronger. You have the brains to plan out a strategy. We all have skills that will help us out. But we can't use them unless we have someone organized and clever enough to lead us. So, Sirrus, tell me. Are you in, or are you out? Because if you're out, you're a much easier target for this guy to pick out, and if he finds you…"

"Alright, alright, I'll help you. But I won't like it," Sirrus muttered. "So, I'm the brains. As I should rightfully be, of course. Now, what can Atrus do?"

"Well, I could be able to help scout out a route," he suggested.

"Okay, you do that. Stranger, you're a girl of many talents, so you'll be my second-in-command of sorts. You'll scout, use any stealth abilities that you have, and fight if necessary. Mother, I want you to help fight, since you're so good at self-defense methods. Achenar, you're strong and agile, two very important traits. Use those to be our 'sniper' of sorts. You'll clear out guards and such."

All three of the aforementioned characters nodded in agreement.

"And Cho," Sirrus concluded, "You can… uh… you can… Ah, never mind, you can go on stage and be a distraction because you're really annoying."

Cho saluted him, showing that he got the message.

"Okay, so everyone got what they'll be doing? Good. Now we need a plan and a way into the hideout."

"But where is it?" Achenar pondered.

"I think I know," The Stranger said. "Most auditoriums have Sound and Light Booths or the like. I think that the voice is hiding out there. So, if we find the way into the Booth..."

"But all of the doors are closed," Atrus added.

"Well, if there's a way that he got out to get Saavedro… then there's a way in on the stage! But we need Cho to distract him so we won't be seen. I think that the method on and off stage is that of a trap door. But we need to find its handle."

"I'll go look for it," Catherine volunteered.

"Great," Sirrus said. "Now we need the rest of us to sneak onstage carefully, one by one, once they find it. Achenar, you can signal her one she's found it and ready to go. Cho, you go out there and put this plan into action."

"Wait a minute," the Stranger said. "The stage has all of its lights on. How are we going to shut down the lights?"

"Cut the wires," Sirrus replied. "Atrus will do that. I have to supervise the operation, and Atrus is the only one besides me that would know how to take the proper precautions."

Suddenly, Catherine yelled out "Found it!"

"Shh!" Sirrus hushed. "Not so loud! He might hear us. Go stand near the lever or whatever. Achenar will signal you when we need the door open. Our little plan is just about set for action..."

_**Meanwhile…**_

"So, they think that they can come after me, eh?" the voice replied. "They think they're going to stop me and get out? Never."

He chuckled to himself and walked over to the man he held prisoner. Saavedro lay strapped to the metal bed with slats in the back, taking the blows of blades slicing through said slats remarkably well for one in such excruciating pain.

"And how are we doing?" the voice asked his captive. "Are you ready to talk yet?"

"Never," Saavedro said through gritted teeth as he took yet another slice.

"I can end this, you know. You don't have to take any more pain. You just need to tell me where your friends are, and -"

"I will never, not for all the riches in all of the worlds written and not yet written, tell you where they are."

"Very well. I just hope that the blood loss doesn't kill you. You're the only thing that keeps them going, you know."

The madman stopped the machine and released Saavedro, examining the damage caused by the torturous instrument. The back of his robe was destroyed, and most of his back was torn up and streaked with blood. The gashes were not very deep, but they were numerous. The Narayani fell to the floor, panting and bleeding.

"I see that didn't get anything out of you," the voice said. "Very well. I can be harsher. Much harsher. What do you think of that?"

In truth, Saavedro was terrified of what brand of exquisite pain this psycho was going to offer next, but he couldn't let the wanton man see that. So, he merely grimaced, stood up, and stared him dead in the eyes, hidden from view by a veiled, full-face mask.

"Do your worst," he said before collapsing again.

"I will. You can be assured of that."

_Woah… that was ten times eviler than I intended it to be. Hopefully Saavedro is saved before he is killed, and hopefully they all escape with their lives! Who on any of the ages would be twisted and evil enough to harm a man so? Find out in the last chapter of Know Your Myst Stars!_


	8. The Rescue Party and More Torture

_Reviews, reviews, reviews for me! As a writer, I live for attention and praise and the knowledge that I'm leaving people in suspense. And it seems like everyone had something to say about that last chapter. (Oh, yes. I enjoy torturing those who have been tortured for more than a few years of their lives.__) Don't get me wrong. I love Saavy – he's such an insecure and slightly nuts ball of nerves. -Huggles Saavedro-_

_This chapter will begin the journey beneath the auditorium to find the voice's evil lair! -Insert evil laughter here- Not only that, but Saavy will find it difficult to face the voice after some more torment (some graphic, some not so graphic), we'll find out what the Bahro actually did with Escher at the end of Myst V, and we might even gain some clues as to whom this mysterious voice is. (Here's a hint: The voice and one of the characters once lived in the same Age.) So, here's to another wild and wacky (and possibly sadistic? _O.o_) chapter of "Know Your Myst Stars!"_

_**Disclaimer: I own none of this.**_

**_Author's Note: All of Cho's comebacks to the Know Your Stars voice will be translated to English and put in italics. This is for the ease of you, the reader._**

* * *

This was it, thought Sirrus, as he stared at the trap door on the stage floor warily. One wrong move, and the plan could backfire. If the voice caught onto them…

Shaking the thought from his head, he looked across to the other end at Cho, who stood by, waiting for the signal to go onstage.

Sirrus turned his attention to watching for any camera activity onstage.

He found only one – a ceiling-mounted camera that watched the blank stage like an eye, overseeing everything.

Slowly, Sirrus raised his hand, signaling Cho to walk onto the stage and start distracting.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

Cho sat in the chair, a bit spooked by the voice from nowhere, but not really saying much.

"Cho… enjoys playing fetch with the mushrooms that grow in his house!"

"Cho?" Cho responded, obviously confused as to how someone could play fetch with mushrooms.

"Cho… nobody in the Myst fandom really cares about him, anyway!"

"_What?_" Cho asked in Rivenese. "_Are you sure about that?_"

"Absolutely positive," the voice responded.

Cho was astonished for the moment that the voice actually understood him, then glanced off towards the backstage area and remembered that he was supposed to be distracting the voice.

"_Five eats wahrks for lunch at seven!_" Cho shouted randomly.

"What?" the voice asked incredulously.

Sirrus took this opportunity to slip onstage and check the trap door. It was, mercifully, open. He quickly slipped through it.

"What was that noise?" The ceiling mounted camera swiveled to look towards the other end of the stage.

"_Oh, nothing,_" Cho said. "_Look! A pink and orange golden beetle!"_

The camera swiveled to look out into the audience, where Cho had just been pointing.

Achenar ran for the trap door and opened it, then quickly shut it.

"I don't see any orange and pink-spotted golden beetle," the voice said in an accusing tone. "Were you playing a trick on me?"

"_Nope, no trick. I assure you, that beetle's out there. I see it over on that seat, right… over… THERE!_"

The camera swiftly spun back towards the audience area, scanning every single seat for the elusive bug.

Atrus and Catherine both ran out towards the trap door, opened it, and snuck down it.

"I still don't see anything." The camera had turned to face Cho once more.

"_Oh, it must have flown off,_" Cho said, putting on the most innocent tone that he could.

"Oh. Very well, then. Cho… likes to swim in sunner poop!"

"_Sicko! I do not!_"

"Do too."

"_Do not!_"

"Do too."

"_Do not!_"

"Do too."

"_Do not!_"

"Do too."

"_Do too!_"

"Do not."

"_Do too!_"

"Do not."

"_Ha, I just made you say that I don't swim in sunner poop!"_

The voice, not very happy with being stood up, shouted loudly at the Riven native.

"Yeah… well… shut up!"

"_You shut up!_"

"No, you!"

Both people began to get into a massive argument once more, which was exactly enough time for the Stranger to run towards the trap door and slide under it.

The ride was long, dark, and treacherous, for what the six people had taken to be a hidden staircase was actually a long, slippery slide down several feet into a stone-walled tunnel. The ride ended abruptly with the Stranger landing upon a pile of people.

"Ow! Sirrus, get off of my arm!"

"I would, dear brother, but there are three other people on top of me that need to get off first!"

"Oh, sorry," the Stranger replied, jumping down from the pile and landing on the solid floor. Atrus and Catherine soon followed, with Sirrus and Achenar last.

"There, that wasn't so very difficult, was it?" Sirrus asked to no one in particular. "Now, does anyone have a light? We can't go anywhere in all this gloom."

"I have a firemarble," the Stranger said, fishing one out of her jeans pocket and lighting it.

"Thank you," Sirrus replied, taking the tiny light source between his fingers.

Of course, because the small orb produced so much light, it also produced much heat, making it hard for Sirrus to continue holding onto it as the group walked through the tunnel. It was, however, the only light source that they had, and if they lost it…

Suddenly, the group stopped. They had found themselves at a point where the road forked into four paths.

"Uh, anyone have any ideas where we should go?" Sirrus asked, turning to the group.

All of them stared blankly at him.

"Great. We're stuck here, then."

A sudden scratching and shuffling noise from behind Sirrus startled him and nearly made him drop the firemarble.

"What was that?" The Stranger asked in a slightly frightened tone.

"I don't know," Sirrus responded, "But I don't think that it sounds too friendly."

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Augh! I'm sick of this!" the Voice smacked the control panel of the security system angrily. "If that idiot keeps getting into more and more arguments with me, I'm going to go down there and tear him limb from limb! Only problem is, how should I do it?"

The villain turned to Saavedro, who was now bolted into a chair. No matter how much he struggled, however, the Narayani could not free himself.

"What do you think?"

"What do I _think?_" Saavedro asked incredulously. "You have me stuck in a freaking electric chair, for pity's sake!"

As if on cue, a sudden jolt of electricity traveled directly through Saavedro's entire body, shaking him like a ragdoll. It stopped just as abruptly, leaving him panting even though he wasn't tired.

"We can do this all day if you want," the Voice replied.

"I'd rather not," Saavedro responded.

"Sorry, I'm afraid that's not an option."

A second jolt sped through Saavedro's body, this one much briefer than the last.

"I'm not telling you where they are, forget it!" Saavedro yelled. "You can figure it out yourself!"

"You're stronger than I thought," the Voice said, half surprised.

"Well, let me tell you something, pal," Saavedro spat, "Living alone for twenty years doesn't exactly make a person a wuss."

Yet another jolt coursed though his body.

"And will you stop shocking me for no good reason!"

The Voice eyed Saavedro's now static-y hair and slightly charred clothing.

"Hmm… torture by electricity does get rather boring after a while…"

_**Meanwhile…**_

The strange scratching-shuffling kept up at a steady pace, as if it were some odd animal walking towards the small group of explorers, becoming louder all the while.

Nobody could tell where it was coming from. Sirrus dropped the firemarble, which fell to the floor with a small clink, extinguishing the only source of available light. Presently, the odd noises had stopped, only to be replaced by the gritty, heavily accented, and slightly sad-sounding voice of a man.

"Do not be afraid. I will not harm you. Let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you will see me."

The group looked about, allowing the darkness to become clearer and clearer to them, until they could see every nook and cranny of the walls, tunnels, and ceiling, then looked towards where the man stood, waiting patiently.

The man in question was dressed in what had probably once been nicer clothing that now hanged in tatters, faded with age. He was barefoot, and around both ankles was a metal clasp with dragging chains. His eyes were wide and almost haunted-looking, and he was very pale, almost resembling a ghost. Indeed, the man seemed so fragile that even the slightest touch could have knocked him over.

He bent to pick up the now forgotten firemarble, but as soon as he touched it, it lit up, filling the area with light and shocking everyone in the immediate area with the immediate brightness. The Stranger watched through blinking eyes, with a mixture of horror and astonishment, as the man's pupils narrowed into cat-like slits.

"Aghh!" The man screamed, "The light is too bright! Turn it off!"

Rubbing her own eyes, so as to alleviate the pain from the light, she squinted and picked up the firemarble, then turned it off with a swift stroking motion and pocketed it.

The remainder of the group blinked suddenly, allowing themselves to get used to the light as the odd man's eyes returned to normal.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Uh, no problem?" The Stranger half asked, half replied. She turned to look at the group, who now had regained their night vision, then turned back towards the man.

"Who are you?" she asked, half of her not wanting to know the answer.

The man sighed, a low, melancholy sound that immediately smothered all hope.

"My masters do not wish me to speak of myself," the man responded, "but I can tell you who I once was."

"Okay, who were you, then?"

"I was Escher, a very greedy, foolish man who thought that he could do no wrong. Now I am Escher, a humble man, doomed to wander these tunnels through eternity. It is my life sentence for wronging the Bahro."

Suddenly, he looked up at the Stranger and faltered a bit.

"You…" he started. "You… were the one that… freed them."

"Uh, I was?" The Stranger had never seen this person before, nor did she know what a Bahro was, except from what she had read in some of Atrus' older books.

Escher nodded his head slowly, then glanced downwards at the stone floor.

"You forced me into this fate," he said. "But how can I be angry at you? You simply showed me the error of my ways. I am too timid to face my masters. How can I explain that I am a better man, a changed man? Would they understand?"

A sudden screeching noise from the tunnels startled the man and made him crouch low, almost into a ball. Four large, beetle-like creatures appeared, one from each tunnel, and looked down at the man.

One spoke to him in a series of screeches and squeaks.

"It was my break time, sir," Escher replied timidly. "You said I could have fifteen minutes."

The same creature screeched accusingly at him.

"I know, I know, but I found them!" He pointed at the group, which made all of the creatures look up suddenly at them. "I was only going to help them escape!"

The Stranger was a bit nervous at seeing these creatures have such power over a human being, but even so, she managed to speak.

"Atrus," she asked in a shaky tone, "Are they…?"

"Bahro? Yes," he replied. "But last time I saw them, it was the other way around. It seems that the tables have turned. I do not know how this is possible. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless this switch happened in the distant future, which would mean that the Bahro have transported themselves and this man to our present – their past."

The Stranger blinked in confusion.

"Uh, what?"

"That's okay, my friend, I didn't exactly understand everything I just said, either."

A Bahro approached the Stranger, making her back away nervously. The creature made a soft crooning noise to itself, looking over the Stranger and the group as a whole. It finally decided that there was no harm in allowing Escher to escort them through the tunnels, and transferred this decision to the other Bahro, who seemed to argue for a bit, and then told this to Escher.

"I will do my best, sir," he said to the Bahro, who turned to leave through the left-most tunnel. "You wish to find something, but I do not believe it is an exit."

"No, it isn't," Catherine responded. "We're looking for a room in which a friend of ours is being tortured and kept hostage. The torturer has been after us as well, and we're trying to stop him. Have you heard any screaming or odd mechanical noises while wandering the tunnels?"

Escher thought to himself for a moment before responding.

"Yes," he replied. "I've heard some odd noises by the airshaft grates."

"There are airshafts in the bottom of the theater?" Achenar randomly asked. "Shouldn't they be in the walls?"

The rest of the group couldn't find an answer to this, nor did they get why the airshafts were in the floor.

"Whatever," Sirrus responded hurriedly. "Escher, can you take us to the grates? Maybe we can break them down."

"Very well, I shall bring you there," Escher responded. "Follow me."

_**Meanwhile…**_

"You… evil… heartless… cad! You know… how I feel… about Squees!"

Now poor Saavedro was strapped inside a big, glass tub with several hundred Squees running all over him. The small creatures were everywhere, and though Saavedro wasn't necessarily afraid of them, being surrounded by hundreds of the wriggling things made it hard for him to concentrate.

"Ready to talk, now?" the Voice asked.

"NO! Never!"

"Oh, come on. Surely you can be more dramatic."

"Sorry. I already had my big, famous dramatic moment between the ice shields in Narayan. The video game developers already beat you to it." Saavedro allowed himself a small, wry smile at this before a Squee latched itself into his face and he had to fight with trying to knock it off.

"Whatever. Those Squees could chew off your face for all you care."

"Squees don't eat me, I eat Squees. Hey, I didn't know that you were going to do water torture to me, too."

"I wasn't."

"Well, if you aren't, then…? Oh, _yuck!"_

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Here. The grates. Just be quiet about how you knock them down."

"Thank you, Escher," Atrus replied. "You had better get back to work or whatever before the Bahro find out what you're up to."

"Yes," Escher responded. "Farewell. I sincerely hope all goes well with your rescue attempts."

With that, the man shuffled back down the path, eventually fading into the surrounding darkness.

"Okay," Sirrus said, breaking the ensuing silence, "Now what do we do?"

"Want me to use my head?" Achenar replied mockingly.

"Why, you little… Wait… Maybe I _do_ want you to use your head! Maybe if you bang into it hard enough, the grate will break."

"But won't that make too much noise?" Catherine pointed out.

Sirrus thought about this for a moment.

"As much as I'm afraid to admit it, you're right," he said. "There goes my ingenious plan."

"Not all of them can be gems," Achenar teased.

"Oh, will you just shut up for a second!"

"Boys," Atrus said threateningly.

"Sorry, father," they said in unison.

"Okay, so now what?" the Stranger asked. "We can't break the grate, and we can't squeeze through the grate. Does anyone have any tools?"

"I have a crowbar," Achenar responded.

"A _crowbar_?!? Achenar, where in the worlds did you manage to find a crowbar?"

"I found it when I first arrived in Haven. Now I always carry it with me. Safety first!"

Sirrus rolled his eyes.

"Well, okay, then," the Stranger said. "Here, let me see it."

Achenar handed her the crowbar, with which she began to pry at the grating with.

"Okay, it's working."

"Good," Sirrus replied. "Just try not to make too much noise, and we're golden."

The Stranger fumbled with the crowbar for a moment, then dropped it, producing a metallic clang.

"I thought I told you not to make too much noise!"

"Sorry!"

_**Meanwhile…**_

"No! Please, please stop it! I can't take this anymore! I'm really ticklish!"

Saavedro was now strapped to a metal platform with several feathers swinging from the ceiling above him in a less dangerous version of the swinging blade pendulum.

"Squeal! Tell me where they are! My gosh, this is the worst thing I've got!"

"I'm not telling you!" Saavedro gasped out between spasms of laughter. "I thought that we had that straight!"

"And _I_ thought," the voice responded, "That _you_ understood that I am not freeing you until you tell me where your friends are at!"

"I don't know!"

"We can go at this forever if you want."

"No! Please! They're… in the dressing room."

The Voice looked pleased with himself and shut the machine off, but left Saavedro tied up as he went to go look around the dressing room.

"What? It's empty!" He turned back to Saavedro. "You little _liar!_ You said they were there!"

"They aren't? They're supposed to be! Why aren't they there? Where are they?!?"

"You are going to tell me the _exact_ location of where they are, right now, or so help me, I will…"

"No! Please don't! I don't know, honest, I don't!"

The Voice's hand was holding onto the switch for the tickle machine threateningly.

"Tell me or else."

"I don't know! Really! Really, I…" The rest of Saavedro's sentence was drowned out by tears, which were quickly replaced by laughter as the machine started up one more time.

"No! Please, not again! NO!"

_**Meanwhile…**_

"What was that?" The Stranger asked, now partially finished prying the grate loose.

"I don't know," Catherine responded. "It sounded like 'Please, no, not again, no.' Do you think that Saavedro's in pain?"

"Probably," the Stranger said, "But that didn't sound like a pain scream to me. That sounded like a plea for mercy. Saavedro's in much worse trouble than I thought."

"What do you think that psycho's doing to him?" Achenar asked.

"Hmm… water torture?" Sirrus pondered.

"No, too mild for that kind of scream. Maybe he's being slowly sliced open by a swinging blade."

"You and your weapons. Nope, it's water torture."

"Blade."

"Water torture."

"Blade!"

"WATER TORTURE!"

"_BLADE!_"

"Guys, guys!" the Stranger said. "It doesn't matter what they're doing to him, he's still in trouble, and we have to get him out of there!" With that, she returned to her prying, and, with one final push, the grate fell to the floor with a crash.

All of the group members winced at this, then quickly, they clambered through the opening and fell to the floor.

"Nice," the Stranger said in a flat tone.

"Will you shut up for five seconds?" Sirrus responded caustically. "Here, follow me."

The group silently snuck around to the front of the evil lair, soon coming across a hysterical Saavedro being tickle-tortured.

"See? You were both wrong," the Stranger said to Sirrus and Achenar.

The group silently snuck around towards the back of the machine, whereas Achenar, spotting the lever, went towards it, reached up to it with his crowbar and pulled it, shutting the machine off.

Saavedro looked up at the four people staring down at him and nodded in silent thanks.

"Shh," he hushed. "We have to be quiet, otherwise he'll hear us. Quick, untie me so that we can get out of here!"

The group quickly undid the ropes that bound Saavedro to the platform and helped him to his feet.

"Saavedro, are you okay?" The Stranger asked. "What happened to your back?"

"It's a long story," he responded. "Sirrus, call your idiot brother over here so we can leave!"

"Leave?" said a voice behind them. "Aw, but I was having so much fun!"

"Oh, crap."

_**Ten Minutes Later…**_

"Well, now what?" The Stranger asked. "Now we're stuck here."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that," Sirrus retorted.

"Hey, we tried," Achenar pointed out.

"Oh, shut up, Achenar!"

Now all of the characters were tied to gear-like objects, all arranged in a single mechanism. On the far end, there was a large, sharp drill-like object pointing straight at all of the trapped people.

"Ingenious, isn't it?" the Voice said. "I always have been fond of mechanics. You see this drill bit? Once I flip this switch, it will start turning and moving slowly forward. And when it starts moving… I'll be having a little shish-ka-bob for dinner tonight, won't I?"

"You monster!" Catherine spat.

"Yes, I know," the villain replied. "Isn't it marvelous, the things one can do when they aren't limited by the pressure to be good?"

"NO!" shouted everyone in reply.

"A shame that you don't understand my feelings," the voice said as his black full-face mask curled downward into a frown. "That's precisely why I must dispose of all of you."

He walked over to flip the switch, but something made him stop.

He slowly walked back and stood in front of the group.

"But before you die," he said smoothly, "Perhaps you would like to finally see who your tormentor is."

Slowly, the Voice reached up, pulled off his facemask, and looked at every single person with his pale eyes in turn. Every single person in the room had heard of him. Some even had met him. But only Atrus dared to say his name.

"Gehn!"

"Yes, Atrus. It is I. _I_ was the one who bothered you. All of you. But _you_…" - he glared at the Stranger angrily - "_You_, of all people… a mere child… trapped me. I fell for it once. But not again. I only feel sorry for that poor child who stumbled upon my book…"

"Yeesha!" Catherine screamed. "No!"

"Yes, Catherine," Gehn continued. "I lured her – it was simple, really. Cho has the book. Speaking of which, where is the idiot? I wish to speak with him personally."

As if on cue, Cho leapt out from behind the gears and jumped, cat-like, onto Gehn's back. Both men struggled for some time, Cho trying to get Gehn to link into the green book he held in his hands and Gehn furiously struggling to refuse.

Suddenly, something flew out of Ghen's coat, a rectangular object that looked almost like…

_A Linking book!_

The struggle went on for some time before Cho ended up under Ghen's heel, scraping and clawing for a way to get him off.

"Foolish acolyte," Gehn said in a tone like ice. "You actually thought that you could overcome me? You know how I feel about those who step out of line."

Cho looked up at him, narrowing his eyes, and suddenly he said the longest sentence in English that he ever had.

"I am not your servant."

Ghen frowned at him.

"What did you just say?"

"I... am... not… your… servant," Cho repeated slowly, imitating how Gehn himself had taught him to speak to the person who first linked into Riven.

The entire room fell silent, except for the sound of Cho slapping the open green book's panel onto Gehn's leg.

"No. No!"

Gehn's cries were drowned out by the roar of the link, and the trap book fell to the ground as Cho got up.

Suddenly, a small figure appeared, faint at first, but quickly gaining substance. Within a few seconds, Yeesha stood there, looking around the room, completely and utterly confused.

"Where am I?" She asked. "What's going on? Why are mom and dad tied to that big gear?"

"Yeesha!" Catherine yelled joyously. "Honey, where were you? How did you get in that book?"

"I don't know," she said. "I couldn't find you anywhere after I came home from Serenia, and I saw this green book on the ground, and I figured that you must have gone somewhere. So I tried to follow you, but I got stuck. I was really scared."

"Oh, little bird," Catherine cooed. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Here, let me help you get down."

Cho asked something in Rivenese, which Catherine translated as "Do you need help?"

"Yes, Cho, of course," Atrus said. "Here, will you come untie me, please?"

Within a few moments, all of the characters were freed and standing on the floor.

"There. All better!" Yeesha stood back to admire her handiwork and smiled at everyone.

"Atrus," Saavedro asked, "This is your daughter?"

"Yes," Atrus replied with a smile. "I'm hoping that she'll come out better. I can be rather… forgetful, unfortunately."

"Come out better?" Sirrus asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yeesha smiled up at the Narayani politely.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Yeesha. Who are you?"

"Uh, hi, Yeesha," Saavedro responded. "I'm Saavedro. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too. Hey, do you like bugs?"

"Well, I'm not very opposed to them. So I guess I sort of do."

"I love bugs. I like to collect them and see what they do naturally. What do you like to do?"

"Uh, I like to paint."

"Oh, neat! What kind of stuff do you paint?"

"Okay, Yeesha," Catherine said kindly. "I think that's enough of that." She bent to scoop up the fallen linking book and opened it.

"Is everyone ready to go home?" she asked.

"YES!" Everyone replied in unison.

"Now all of you know how I felt," Saavedro joked.

* * *

_Okay, ending the chapter here. My, that was lengthy! An epilogue is to follow, so stay tuned to this story, and keep sending those reviews. Speaking of which, I'd like to thank RandomLittleWriter and Halley for submitting the latest comments, and I'd like to thank RandomLittleWriter again for being with me at the beginning of this fic. Thanks as well to Rehia and CookieSpaz for reviewing as well, you guys are great._

_Just a little endnote here for you. The reason the Stranger didn't recongnize Escher and the Bahro is rather complicated. This story takes place pre-Revelation (Myst 4), and for that reason, the Stranger has not yet met Escher or the Bahro or had the adventure in Myst 5 yet. In my version of what happened in the good ending of Myst 5, the Bahro transported Escher and themselves into the past so that even if Escher were to escape, he could never get back to his own time without a Bahro's help. Sorry for any confusion, but I found a bunch of plotholes and so I had to fill them._


	9. The End

_Hey, everyone, the story's come to its end, and here it is in all of its glory. This story was a blast to write, and I'm looking forward to writing more Myst fanfiction in the future. This chapter is more of an end-all – just showing what happened after the torture, trials, and tribulations of the story – an epilogue. Who goes home, what gets said, and who gets stuck somewhere else. Uh, yeah. Enough of my rambling, please enjoy the final chapter of "Know Your Myst Stars"_

_**Disclaimer: It's the end of the story. What makes you think t****hat I'd own any of what I didn't own eight chapters ago?**_

* * *

"Nope, still not used to linking," the Stranger said, woozy from the journey back. Her sight was blurry, her stomach swam, and she finally collapsed from nausea.

"Why don't you go lie down, dear?" Catherine suggested. "Some rest might do you good."

"I think it'd do _all_ of us good," the Stranger replied as she lay prone on the ground. "And for all of our sakes, when Sirrus and Achenar get here, send them back to… uh, wherever they went when they were trapped."

Yeesha was the next to link in. She looked at the Stranger, lying upon the ground and staring at the ceiling and giggled, then decided to do the same.

"So, what's so fascinating about the ceiling?" she asked as she lay next to her.

"It's blurry."

"Why?"

"Because I feel sick."

"Why?"

"Because I have Linking Sickness."

"Why?"

"Because I linked on an empty stomach."

"Why?"

"Because all I had to eat today was a bowl of ramen noodles" – in the background, Atrus snickered audibly – "And some chocolate I found in the dressing room."

"Why?"

"Oh, will you just leave me alone before I puke all over you?"

"Eeew!"

With that, Yeesha got up, stuck her tongue out at the Stranger, and walked out of the room, presumably to her bedroom.

Two more figures appeared off to the side of the room, now tangled into a heap.

"Ow! Get off my arm!"

"You get off of my leg!"

"Sirrus, you're hurting me!"

"Father!"

"Okay, boys, that's enough," Atrus scolded. "Now, both of you go home."

Sirrus scoffed and disentangled himself from Achenar, then stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"Pfft. Why would I do that? I'm already out of that miserable place."

"Well… uh… I don't know, really."

"Exactly!"

Achenar stood up.

"I know why," he said. "Because if we stay here, it messes up the series' continuity. So, if we go back, then everything will be right on track for Myst IV: Revelation. Won't it?"

Everyone in the room blinked, partially because of how massive of a concept Achenar had grasped, and partially because that was the smartest thing that he had said throughout the entire story.

Saavedro linked in and noticed the small group with gaping mouths.

"Uh, did I just miss something?"

"Uh-huh," everyone said in unison, still shocked.

"Um, if you'll excuse my brother and I," Sirrus said, breaking the long silence, "We're just going to go, er, home now, so that we don't mess up the… what was it?"

"Continuity," Achenar responded.

Now it was Saavedro's turn to gape at what Achenar had said.

"Uh… what?"

"Never mind." Sirrus sighed, audibly. "Let's just go." Both brothers suddenly disappeared in clouds of red and blue smoke.

"That was… random," the Stranger observed.

"Thank you, Miss points-out-the-obvious-a-lot," Saavedro joked. "Where's that creepy Cho guy?"

As if on cue, Cho linked in with a glassy look in his eye.

"Hey, Cho! We were just talking about you! You know, you really saved all of our butts back there! Good for you!"

Saavedro gave him a pat on the back, only to have Cho fall over with a thud.

"Er, Cho?" Catherine asked, waving her hand over his face. "Cho?"

"I think he's too nauseous to respond," the Stranger said as she slowly got up.

"You can say that again," Saavedro said.

"I think he's -"

"Okay, we get the idea."

Cho sat up, holding his head in pain. It probably didn't help that the whole rest of the group had begun to cheer and sing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow", either.

Cho slumped back to the floor, moaning in pain and annoyance.

_For he's a jolly good felloooooooowwww_

_Which nobody can deny!_

Suddenly, all eyes turned to look at the Stranger.

"What?" she asked.

"My friend," Atrus asked, "What were you just singing?"

"'For He's A Jolly Good Fellow.' The same thing that you were."

Four pairs of eyes looked at her quizzically. She had a very bad feeling about this.

"You know," the Stranger said in a tiny voice, "_For he's a jolly good fellow, with snowberry candy dye_?"

The entire group burst out laughing, but no more so than Cho who had never seen snow, candy, or dye, and so thought that the entire thing sounded thoroughly ridiculous.

"Oh, my," Catherine managed to gasp between bouts of laughter, "I think I need to lie down for a moment!"

Atrus chuckled. "My friend," he said, with a small smile, "The lyrics are 'Which nobody can deny,' not 'With snowberry candy dye.'"

"SNOWBERRY CANDY!" Saavedro yelled randomly before collapsing into spasms of laughter.

The Stranger felt put down for the moment, but then smiled wickedly. Catherine, sensing the tension that was about to occur, quietly slipped out of the room.

"I know what's funnier than that," she said.

"What is it?" Saavedro asked, now standing up and hanging on the Stranger's every word.

"Don't say it," Atrus warned, suddenly looking much more serious.

"What is it?"

"It's…"

"Don't say it!"

"What is it?!?"

"It's…"

"My friend, by all that is natural and good, I beg you not to say it!"

"_For the last stinking time, what is it?!?_"

"NOODLES!"

Atrus and Saavedro both collapsed in laughter, partially from what the word was, and partially from how the Stranger had said it.

Afterwards, neither could move for a very long time.

"Uh… I better go home, now!" the Stranger grabbed her pack and sped out of the front door of the house. The only sound for a long time was that of the Gondola kicking into full gear and speeding away down the thin steel cable that supported it.

"That… was… hilarious," Saavedro said, breaking the silence.

"I _told_ her not to say it."

Cho, meanwhile, had become bored, and decided to look through Atrus' books for the way back to his home.

"Okay, seriously, though," Saavedro replied, standing up and brushing himself off, "Where's the linking book back to Narayan?"

"Oh, sorry. It's the purple one over on the right. No, that's puce, but you're getting closer. That's mauve, too far. That's plum. That's -"

"Atrus, I'm not color-blind, you know. I can see what color it is. Now, it's this light purple one, right?"

"That's the one."

Saavedro unshelved the book and scanned the linking panel just to be sure, then left.

Cho, meanwhile, had found the broken Riven descriptive book and opened it up to the first page. The panel was black and filled with static, and the link no longer worked.

"Cho?" he asked, utterly confused.

Atrus walked over to him and smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry. The link won't work because Riven is no longer there. It's gone, Cho."

Saddened, and thinking that he was now stuck in Tomahna forever, Cho quietly began to cry.

"It's okay!" Atrus said, trying to calm the upset man down. "I can't bring you back to Riven, but I can bring you to your people."

Cho said something in rapid Rivenese, and Atrus understood precisely none of it, but from what he could tell, the man sounded concerned.

"What's wrong? Are you scared that nobody will want you there?"

Cho nodded.

"Well, I can't make them accept you, but I can come with you. Better yet, I can send Catherine with you, since she can communicate with them. They trust us, and if you went with either of us, they might take you in."

Atrus turned from Cho for the moment, searched through the myriad of books, and withdrew a single grey one from the shelf.

"Here," Atrus said, handing it to Cho. "Take this and find Catherine. Ask her to link to Tay with you. I'm sure that she'll be willing to help."

Cho nodded a silent thanks and left.

Atrus, in the meantime, sat down at his desk, opened the book he had barely started writing in, and began to write.

_Hmm, let's see what I can think of… Large island. Trees. Grassy plains. Bushes – no, wait, no bushes. Mountains…_

_**Meanwhile, on Earth…**_

"Mom! I'm back from my trip!" The Stranger walked into the house, her backpack held on by a single, weatherworn strap. Her green and black binder, littered with graffiti that she had put there, was slapped onto the table, and she took off her backpack and gently set it upon the floor.

A tall woman with short dark brown hair walked over to her daughter and embraced her tightly. Her daughter had only been gone overnight, but to her, it felt like days.

"There you are," she said, breaking away. "How was your trip?"

"Great, mom, just wonderful. How were things around the house while I was gone?"

"Oh, you know. Interesting. How are your friends doing?"

"They had a little bit of trouble, but everything worked out alright."

The mother sighed. Sometimes, she didn't know what to make of her daughter's adventures. She herself had been adventurous at fifteen, but she had never been in any great danger.

Her daughter had, and that was what worried her every time her daughter linked to another world. She feared that she'd never see her daughter again.

"How bad was it?"

"Nothing too bad. Atrus had something that he wanted to show me."

The mother smiled. "He always does."

"Yes, I know. New world, too."

"I see. How was it?"

"Well… it was… troublesome."

"How so?"

"Well, there was this guy… and he was… bugging us."

"Did you find out who it was?"

"Gehn."

"Oh, not him again!"

"Yes, him again. But we outnumbered him, because after we got there, Sirrus and Achenar -"

The mother gasped in shock. "They escaped?"

"Apparently. But we were okay, because they mostly bothered each other. And then there was Saavedro…"

"Oh, I hope he's doing okay."

The Stranger smiled. "He's fine. He's much better, now. He's still scared of the brothers, though."

"I would think so."

"He was captured by Gehn."

"Oh my word! Was he okay?"

"Yup. We saved him."

"That's good."

"And there was Cho."

"That odd man from Riven?"

"Yup. He actually saved the day."

"Well, that's cool. I wish I had been there."

The Stranger smiled and nodded to herself. Suddenly, something came to mind.

"Hey mom?"

"What?"

"Are you sure that you're cool with me going off alone to other worlds and facing down people with hammers and guns?"

The mother smiled. "I was adventurous, too when I was your age, and though I never went to any other worlds when I was fifteen, I loved it. I know that you have that same desire to explore, just like I do. And explore I did!" She chuckled. "I ran into some rather dangerous people as well. And I had to evade being hurt almost as often as you do. I do worry, sometimes, but I know that Atrus and Catherine will keep you safe, just like they kept both of us safe before."

The mother looked into her daughter's curious eyes, fondly recalling the first time they had adventured together. It had not been so long ago – two years. She had been walking with her eleven-year-old child in the woods when they had found the book. It was so beautiful, so alluring to both of them…

Her daughter had gone alone after Riven. Where she had gone, the mother heard an overview of, but the danger her daughter had been in was what got to her. She had scolded Atrus to never let her go to an age alone again, and Atrus had complied. But seeing what her daughter had been through now.

She let the thought fade from her head. Her daughter had just been on a tiring journey, and what she needed was rest and relaxation.

"Want to watch a movie, honey?"

"Sure, what are we watching?"

"How about _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?_"

"Sounds good to me. You know though, that a real adventure is much better than that cheese-fest?"

"I know, dear. I know."

_**Meanwhile, on Spire…**_

Continuity… how had Achenar gotten his mind around that? How? It was so complex a subject…

Sirrus sat in his spider chair, hanging mere feet above the glowing green planet below and contemplating his day. It had been eventful, yes, even frightening at times, but if even he was tired out, wouldn't his brother be too tired to think of something like continuity?

Unless, Sirrus thought, it was backwards for Achenar. Maybe being tired enhanced his mental ability, whereas being wide awake dulled it. Maybe he was just stating something randomly. Maybe he was saying something without knowing what it was. Or maybe…

Sirrus pushed the thought from his head, partially because it was becoming too confusing, and partially because there were too many solutions to the question. Still, he had to wonder…

No matter. His plan to find and capture Yeesha had been put aside under the stressful situation, and as a result it never happened. No, he would have to be much stealthier next time. And most of all, he'd need to get rid of witnesses. That meant that his father and mother had to be out of the way, and that girl had to be somewhere else while he snuck in. And, of course, he'd need Achenar's help.

No matter, that was a thought for tomorrow. With that resolved, Sirrus pressed the large black button near the cables and let the chair lift itself back into position.

Oh, yes. He'd form another plan. And this time, it would not fail.

_**Meanwhile, on Haven…**_

Achenar stood just outside his lakeside home, reflecting upon all that had happened recently. Sirrus had entered. He had been stuck somewhere else. He had been bothered by some voice. He had investigated it with his father, his mother, Sirrus, and that weird girl. He had been trapped in an underground torture facility. And now he was back here?

He still didn't get all of it, but nonetheless, it had been interesting, if not fun.

Yes, he had escaped Haven. But he liked it here. Other worlds interested him, but he just felt so at home here. He finally felt in tune with himself and with others, even if they were monkeys.

But most of all, he felt accepted.

Achenar also felt responsibility – he had stumbled upon this place, a place of beauty, though he could have cared less at the time. Now that he had been here for so long… it felt like he was the mediator, the one who could keep this place pristine.

He'd even become more artistic without having to take something over or kill someone. He didn't feel like he had to anymore. Painting and drawing, carving, sketching things out – that was what he had really wanted to do.

That girl… that girl who had left him here. Could it be possible that she had also taught him a lesson in the process? Perhaps keeping him here… maybe it was a sort of healing. A sort of come-to-grips with his life and what he could change about it. No more killing, no more lies – just himself. Things had finally settled down for him. And Achenar was just fine with that.

Finally satisfied, Achenar walked into his home and lay on his bed, promptly falling asleep.

_**Meanwhile, on Tay…**_

"So, you see, that is why he needs to be accepted. He needs a home. He came back to say that he was sorry."

Catherine waited for the village to decide upon Cho's fate. Everything that he had done before… betrayal, lies, arresting other people… how could he be trusted now?

Cho himself kept his eyes to the ground, not daring to say a thing or look into the crowd's accusing eyes. He knew that they would more than likely not allow him into Tay, yet he wanted them to accept him all the same.

The Elder thought to himself for a moment, then looked at him.

"Cho?"

Cho's head shot up.

"You understand what you have done on Riven, do you not? And you realize that traitors are not welcome here. But seeing as you have finally trapped the Evil One, once and for all, you have redeemed yourself, as it were. We wish you to think of what you have done, past and present, and honestly tell us – do you think that you are deserving of a home here?"

Cho lowered his eyes again, this time in thought. He had done terrible things. Awful things. And yet he had saved a group of others; put himself on the line for them. He had resisted Gehn. And he had gotten rid of him. He wanted to burn the book, wanted to rid the worlds of this awful, horrible man forever, and yet part of him could not kill him. He was a person, this man, but the crimes he had committed were far worse than Cho's could ever have been. And so, finally, he looked upward at the Elder and nodded a single yes.

"I am," he said. "And I shall do my best to protect instead of destroy."

The Elder smiled at him approvingly.

"Then I do declare him a part of our village. Welcome to Tay, Cho."

Cho couldn't help but grin. They had accepted him! After all he had done…

He looked back towards where Catherine had been standing only a moment ago, but she was not there. In her place was a solitary linking book, lying upon the cold floor.

_**Meanwhile, on Narayan…**_

That was it. No more linking books, not now, not ever.

Saavedro steered the gondola quickly past Lattice Tree after Lattice Tree, his mind more or less preoccupied with thinking about the strange way his life was going.

Ten years of war. Twenty years of exile. And now an entire night with enough events to fill a year?

It was all so very confusing to him. Was this how his life was meant to go?

No more linking, he decided. It had gotten him into trouble not once, but twice. And besides, the blue skies of the other worlds he had seen were depressing. Blue seemed so melancholy. Why make a sky bright blue when pink was so much warmer and inviting? If he could do what Atrus could, all of the worlds he formed would have warm-colored skies, like sunsets or the skin of a fruit. And the land would be lush and green. Warm and friendly, and – back to the point.

What all had happened that night, anyway? It had gone by so fast; everything seemed like a blur to him. The link in, the torment with cats and tomatoes and a million other things, the torture for no reason, the save from near death…

Nope. No more linking. That was it, and that was going to be it. Saavedro wasn't even going to think about those odd books with their moving panels and the sickness that went with it.

Well, the night had been interesting.

And everyone had been so kind to him, with the exception of that man whom Atrus had called Gehn.

And being trapped wasn't nearly as bad when he had a whole room of other people that he was stuck with.

Some days, Saavedro thought, he only had gone insane because of the boredom. Some days, he thought, perhaps it was the threat of being alone that had gotten him. He had mourned and lost, or so he thought, but even the thought of his whole family being gone forever paled in comparison to thinking that, even if he had gotten back, there would be nobody left.

That girl… that girl had saved him. She'd given him his life back for nothing in return. And she would always be welcomed in Narayan for that. Well, he'd always welcome her, anyway.

And later, she'd come back, stayed with him for a while with her mother. She'd befriended him. And now, she'd helped him out again. Only really good friends did that.

Saavedro smiled to himself as the gondola approached his home.

"Saavedro!" he heard Tamra yell. "There you are! Where were you? I was looking all over Narayan for you!"

"I was…" he struggled to find the right words. "I was… with my friend."

"You mean that nice young lady?"

"Yes."

"How is she doing?"

"She's okay."

Tamra gave him a concerned look.

"Are you? You seem… disoriented."

"I'm fine, I'm just… thinking."

"And what are you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing."

"It's impossible to think about nothing. Besides, I know you too well for that. Now, what are you thinking?"

Saavedro grinned. "Oh, fine. I'm thinking about how hungry I am. There, does that satisfy your endless curiosity?"

"For now, yes. Now, come inside and I'll fix you something to eat."

Saavedro stepped out of the gondola and walked into his home, still somewhat lost in thought. That book that he had found…

The book! He had almost forgot about it. It was still lying on the floor of the gondola. How had Tamra not noticed it?

Did he really want to keep it? The book was the only link that he had to his friend, and if he got rid of it…

Very well. He would keep it. But he wouldn't use it. Not unless he needed to, anyway.

He ran back out to the gondola and picked up the book, carefully concealing it inside of his robe. There was no reason that Tamra needed to know about it, not unless the time came that he'd have to use it in case of emergency. Or in case of a not-so-urgent emergency. Or in case of leisure.

No more linking, though, he decided. Not unless he felt like it.

* * *

_Okay! It's over, now! -huge grin- No, I have no particular reason for putting Saavedro last in line for the resolution, and I have no particular reason for needing to tell the resolutions of said characters. Yes, the Stranger's mom knows about Myst. Maybe she was the Stranger first, did you ever think of that? I explained it in the story if you look close enough… Yes, I used Indiana Jones as a plot device sort of. It's kind of a nod towards Paramount Studios for entertainment on long, boring rainy days. And in a way, this fanfiction is a nod towards all of the Myst games at once, and to Cyan Worlds for creating them. Thank you, Cyan Worlds and Miller brothers, for making something so spectacular and so quick to draw me in. How did you do it? Thanks, also, to the characters who starred in this fanfiction: Atrus, Catherine, Saavedro, Cho, Gehn, Sirrus, and Achenar. Thanks to the little characters who cameoed in this fanfiction as well: Ten-year-old Yeesha, Escher, the Bahro, and Tamra. I was the Stranger in this story, so thanks to me as well! Big, big thanks to Nickolodeon, All That, and Know Your Stars. Oh, and some of the characters and concepts that briefly appear are my own, the rest are Nickolodeon's and All That's. A few final thank-yous are needed here: To all of my friends on the MystCommunity forums, I love you all in a non-sexual way, and the forums have become one of my secondary, online homes. Here's to the future on MC and in the caverns. Lady Kat, my diabolical plot to torture Myst characters has succeeded. The ball's in your court, sister dear. Let's see what havoc you can wreak on the Myst universe! Brianna Re'nee DeWitt, (Do you know that your middle name sounds like it should be a D'nian name?) here's to me eventually taking you on a journey to Riven and beyond, and here's to us solving Myst's puzzles together. You are my best friend, and I love you as such. This summer, I promise – you and I will turn the lights down low, turn the volume up, and go to other worlds together. We shall face down Moiety rebels with blow dart guns, vengeful Narayani with hammers, brothers with a thirst for evil, and frightening creatures. J'nanin, Edanna, Amateria, Voltaic, Narayan – I'll show you them all. And Riven is just the beginning! I also promise that (eventually!) you and I will start at the beginning on Myst Island and we will learn its secrets. But only if I am with you, because without me, you'll be SO lost! Thanks to all of my reviewers, your comments help make the hours tick by whilst I write. And where are all of you, any way? This is the end of the fic, and you aren't here? What's up with that? ;)_

_Well, all in all, it's been great writing this, and I'm excited to begin anew. But now, the sun is setting, and I must rest from my journey. Be alert, Myst fans. Another will come… but not now, because I have to continue with the ASOUE fanbase and put up at least ONE story so that they know I haven't deserted them. Patience, my fellow adventurers, patience…So, as I sit here on some age far away, and as you read these typed words, know that I shall return again. Remember, the ending has not yet been written… ;)_

_(Scratch that. It was written in Myst V. But that doesn't mean that we can't elaborate on other stuff in the Myst universe, does it?)_

_Shorah!_

_Sugary Snicket_


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